2020 French Open
The 2020 French Open is a Grand Slam tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It will be held at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. Originally to be scheduled from 24 May to 7 June, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was then first moved to 20 September to 4 October, and was later moved to a week further to 27 September to 11 October comprising singles, doubles and mixed doubles play. Junior and wheelchair tournaments are also scheduled. Rafael Nadal is the twelve-time defending champion in men's singles, and Ashleigh Barty is the defending champion in women's singles.
It will be the 124th edition of the French Open and the last Grand Slam event of 2020. The main singles draws will include 16 qualifiers for men and 12 for women out of 128 players in each draw.
It is also the only Grand Slam to retain the advantage set in the final sets, whereas Australian Open and Wimbledon have already switched to tiebreaks.[1][2]
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
Starting on the fourth Sunday of May and ending in early June, this tennis tournament is the second Grand Slam of the year and the peak of the spring clay court season. Due to the ongoing novel COVID-19 pandemic, on 17 March, French Tennis Federation announced the tournament has been postponed and dates were moved first to 20 September to 4 October 2020, and then moved a week further to 27 September to 11 October 2020, just two weeks after the 2020 US Open. For the first time since the 1947 French Championships, this event will not be held on the traditional May-June schedule and the first time since the introduction of the Open Era that a major tournament has been postponed rather than cancelled. On 13 April 2020, the French Government extended a ban on mass gatherings until July 2020 in a bid to control the spread of the virus.[3]
The upcoming Laver Cup was initially scheduled from 24–27 September before deciding that the Laver Cup would not be held in 2020 and instead will be held in 2021.[4]
Tournament
The 2020 French Open will be the 124th edition of the French Open and will be held at Stade Roland Garros in Paris. It will also be the first year in which there is a retractable roof on the French tennis courts, after construction was completed on Court Phillipe Chatrier in late 2019, with plans in place to also have a roof on court Suzanne-Lenglen by 2023.[5] Additionally, it will be the first year in which poor light will not halt play, as floodlights will be in operation on the four main stadium courts.
The tournament is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is part of the 2020 ATP Tour and the 2020 WTA Tour calendars under the Grand Slam category. The tournament will consist of both men's and women's singles and doubles draws as well as a mixed doubles event.[6]
There is a singles and doubles events for both boys and girls (players under 18), which is part of the Grade A category of tournaments,[7] and singles and doubles events for men's and women's wheelchair tennis players under the Grand Slam category.[8] The tournament will be played on clay courts and took place over a series of 23 courts, including the three main showcourts, Court Philippe Chatrier, Court Suzanne Lenglen and Court Simonne Mathieu.[6][9]
Points and prize money
Points distribution
Below is a series of tables for each of the competitions showing the ranking points on offer for each event.
Senior points
| Event | W | F | SF | QF | Round of 16 | Round of 32 | Round of 64 | Round of 128 | Q | Q3 | Q2 | Q1 |
| Men's Singles | 2000 | 1200 | 720 | 360 | 180 | 90 | 45 | 10 | 25 | 16 | 8 | 0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Men's Doubles | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
| Women's Singles | 1300 | 780 | 430 | 240 | 130 | 70 | 10 | 40 | 30 | 20 | 2 | |
| Women's Doubles | 10 | — | — | — | — | — |
Wheelchair points
|
Junior points
|
Prize money
| Event | W | F | SF | QF | Round of 16 | Round of 32 | Round of 64 | Round of 128 | Q3 | Q2 | Q1 |
| Singles | € | € | € | € | € | € | € | € | € | € | € |
| Doubles * | € | € | € | € | € | € | € | — | — | — | — |
| Mixed Doubles * | € | € | € | € | € | € | — | — | — | — | — |
| Wheelchair Singles | € | € | € | € | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Wheelchair Doubles * | € | € | € | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
* per team
Main draw wildcard entries
The following players will be given wildcards (WC) to the main draw based on internal selection and recent performances.
Men's Singles
|
Women's Singles
|
Men's Doubles
|
Women's Doubles
|
Mixed Doubles
/ - /
- /
- /
- /
- /
Main draw qualifiers
Men's SinglesMen's Singles Qualifiers |
Women's SinglesWomen's Singles Qualifiers
|
References
- ^ "Wimbledon: Final set tie-breaks to be introduced in 2019". Retrieved 17 May 2019.
- ^ "Australian Open announces introduction of final set tie-breaks". Retrieved 17 May 2019.
- ^ Nussbaum, Ania; Amiel, Geraldine (14 April 2020). "Macron Extends Virus Lockdown, Says France Was Underprepared". Bloomberg. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
- ^ "Coronavirus: French Open tennis moved to September". BBC Sport. 17 March 2020. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
- ^ "French Open welcomes new retractable roof on Philippe-Chatrier court". CNN. 5 February 2020. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
- ^ a b "Roland Garros". International Tennis Federation. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
- ^ "Roland Garros Junior French Defchampionships". International Tennis Federation. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
- ^ "Circuit Info". International Tennis Federation. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
- ^ "The Courts". Roland Garros. Retrieved 12 April 2018.