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French Open to Allow Fans in Stands

FILE PHOTO: A general view shows the renovated Philippe Chatrier central court at Roland Garros in Paris, France, May 10, 2019. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A general view shows the renovated Philippe Chatrier central court at Roland Garros in Paris, France, May 10, 2019. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann/File Photo
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French Open to Allow Fans in Stands

FILE PHOTO: A general view shows the renovated Philippe Chatrier central court at Roland Garros in Paris, France, May 10, 2019. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A general view shows the renovated Philippe Chatrier central court at Roland Garros in Paris, France, May 10, 2019. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann/File Photo

The French Open will allow fans to attend this year's postponed tournament.

The French Tennis Federation said Thursday up to 60% of the stands can be filled with fans when play starts in September at Roland Garros.

Tickets will go on sale on July 16 for the Sept. 27-Oct. Oct. 11 tournament.

The clay-court tournament had been scheduled to start on May 24 but was postponed to Sept. 20 because of the coronavirus pandemic. It then got pushed back another week.

The FFT has prepared a health and safety protocol to ensure the safety of fans. No more than four people can sit together in one group and there must also be one chair left empty between each mini-group of people in the same row.

“The number of spectators allowed in the stadium will be 50%-60% of the usual capacity,” the FFT said. “This reduction will allow strict distancing measures to be respected.”

Wearing masks is recommended but will not be obligatory when fans line up outside or sit in the stands, but must be worn when fans are moving around inside the grounds.

Hand sanitizers will also be available.

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Alcaraz, Sinner Would Benefit from New Big Three, McEnroe Says

Tennis - Laver Cup - Uber Arena, Berlin, Germany - September 20, 2024 Team World captain John McEnroe reacts during Team World's Thanasi Kokkinakis match against Team Europe's Stefanos Tsitsipas REUTERS/Annegret Hilse
Tennis - Laver Cup - Uber Arena, Berlin, Germany - September 20, 2024 Team World captain John McEnroe reacts during Team World's Thanasi Kokkinakis match against Team Europe's Stefanos Tsitsipas REUTERS/Annegret Hilse
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Alcaraz, Sinner Would Benefit from New Big Three, McEnroe Says

Tennis - Laver Cup - Uber Arena, Berlin, Germany - September 20, 2024 Team World captain John McEnroe reacts during Team World's Thanasi Kokkinakis match against Team Europe's Stefanos Tsitsipas REUTERS/Annegret Hilse
Tennis - Laver Cup - Uber Arena, Berlin, Germany - September 20, 2024 Team World captain John McEnroe reacts during Team World's Thanasi Kokkinakis match against Team Europe's Stefanos Tsitsipas REUTERS/Annegret Hilse

The emergence of a third young star to challenge the supremacy of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner would push the duo's already scintillating rivalry to new heights, tennis great John McEnroe said.

Alcaraz and Sinner are coming off a French Open final for the ages and head into next week's Wimbledon having evenly split the last six majors between them, Reuters reported.

"It's going to be an interesting time to see if there's another player or two who can break in with those two the way Novak (Djokovic) did when he was trying to get to the same level as Roger (Federer) and Rafa (Nadal)," McEnroe told reporters on Wednesday.

"It shows you what type of a player he was that he was able to do that. But right now, there's a void."

Djokovic, Federer and Nadal enjoyed a two-decade stranglehold on men's tennis and their era of dominance was made even richer by the three-sided nature of the rivalry.

In a Roland Garros showdown of unsurpassed quality, 22-year-old Alcaraz of Spain saved three successive match points to battle back from two sets down and beat the Italian in the longest French Open final in history.

Miami Open champion Jakub Mensik, 19, and 18-year-old Brazilian Joao Fonseca are two teenagers McEnroe could envision breaking into the Alcaraz-Sinner rivalry, as well as big-serving American Ben Shelton.

"One of those two guys or Ben would be my choice right now," said seven-time Grand Slam champion McEnroe.

"I think it would be important to get another guy or two to add to the mix. That would be really helpful."

McEnroe said the future of men's tennis is in great hands provided Alcaraz, who is seeking a hat-trick of Wimbledon titles next month, and world number one Sinner stay healthy.

"It was unheard of what we watched over the last 20 years and you can make the argument that what we're seeing now is even faster and different from what we saw even five years ago," he said.

"I can't wait to see what it's going to be like in 10 years, or five years even."