French Open in doubt as tickets are cancelled

The future of the 2020 French Open has been thrown into doubt after organisers in Paris announced all tickets purchased for this year’s even will be cancelled with holders reimbursed instead of being transferred.

“The current situation generates too much uncertainty for all the events that bring people together all over the world,” the French Open said on its Twitter account yesterday.

“While we fine-tune the organisation of the tournament, we have decided to reimburse all tickets.”

The event was to be held from May 24 to June 7, before being postponed to 20 September because of the coronavirus pandemic.

On Tuesday, organisers said they had been in talks with tennis’s governing bodies and French government officials amid media reports the tournament was to be delayed another week.

The French Sports ministry has already prevented most sport in France from returning – with crowds – for many months, if at all this year.

French star Henri Leconte has backed the moves by the French Tennis Federation to move the Roland Garros Grand Slam event to September.

In a column for the Tennis Actu website, Leconte said: “I find that Roland-Garros had the courage to act. I find it very good. So everyone criticises them saying that they could have talked with the others.

“They immediately decided to postpone Roland Garros. What are the strongest tournaments? These are the Grand Slam tournaments. We all organise each year when we make our calendar knowing that we have Australia, Roland-Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open.

“Afterwards, we take all the tournaments to prepare for these 4 tournaments. When there is one who makes a quick, intelligent decision and to be able to protect himself, the partners, and the players too, it was daring so bravo.

“Always keep benchmarks. We have a benchmark, it’s Roland Garros.”