Roland-Garros will finally welcome up to 11,500 visitors per day in three separate and autonomous spaces from the point of view of flow management, announced the organization of the tournament on Monday.
The years go by and are not alike at Roland Garros, forced like all other tournaments to deal with the health crisis linked to the coronavirus. This 2020 edition of the tournament (September 27-October 11), the president of the French Tennis Federation wanted it to be festive. There will therefore be many people at Porte d’Auteuil.
The organization of the tournament, which has been working on the right formula to adopt since the month of March, “in close collaboration with the State services”, was obliged to take into account a situation which is constantly evolving in Île de France . This is why the 12 hectare site will be divided into three independent sectors “from the point of view of public reception” and “hermetic from the point of view of flow management”.
11,500 people per day
One will correspond to the surroundings of central Philippe-Chatrier, the other to the surroundings of Suzanne-Lenglen and finally the last to the court Simonne-Mathieu. For each of these spaces, which are distinct from each other, the public will enter and exit through a door dedicated to each of these spaces. The public who own the Chatrier or Lenglen will unfortunately not be able to switch from one site to another.
Ticket holders will be able to attend matches on the annex courts of the center court. Ditto for holders of tickets for the Lenglen, with the Princes’ Fund. 5,000 tickets per day maximum are sold for the Chatrier zone, as many for the Lenglen, while the gauge has been reduced to 1,500 for the court Simonne Mathieu. Or 11,500 people per day at Roland Garros, while the gauge was at 20,000 before the summer.
A “fairly empty” complex during the fortnight
The management of Roland-Garros presented a very strict health protocol, and criteria of physical distancing (compulsory mask, one seat away …): “The accredited population will itself be subject to a rigorous health protocol, and will have to do regular PCR tests, so that there is no risk of contamination “
“We are going to make the entries and exits more fluid to avoid crowding phenomena, so that it is as fluid as possible, warned the general manager of the FFT Jean-François Vilotte. We must imagine that with the gauges that we mentioned, the stadium will appear quite empty. ” Especially since the qualifications will be disputed behind closed doors.
