Take stock of this Roland Garros 2020 It should not be a tasteful dish. Although the human and health factor is above all, that there has been no outbreak, the economic factor has also marked, without a doubt, this edition of the French Grand Slam. “We have had 50% less turnover.” Figures that even sound like little to the public that has not been able to attend.
-- Roland-Garros: "On peut estimer une perte de 50% du chiffre d'affaire" selon le président de la FFT
--@chrisjaku, @bgiudicelli_pr pic.twitter.com/UtKvvAAqcA
— BFM Business (@bfmbusiness) October 9, 2020
In an appearance before the media, Bernard Giudicelli, director of the FFT, wanted to assess what future awaits the tournament and what are its prospects.
“We have to face some challenges in the coming months in the same way that we faced challenges in the last few months. So we have to move on because I think now we have to push ourselves so that tennis can be played all over the world. Due to our responsibility in France, we decided to play Roland Garros with some audience. We are also going to play Bercy with the public. This is our future. We can’t see what’s going to happen, say, in January and February. We will see. We have several options. We are professionals.”
“I understand how difficult it was for the players, for the staff, to accept the decision to test, the social distancing. Anyway, our president said it was a war. I don’t think it’s a war. They are incredible circumstances. When I was a kid, I used to listen to my grandparents talk about the war. The issue they had to face was life or death. Now we just have to face a virus. We have to be positive. We have to be optimistic. This is how I think we have to face the future. We do not know the future. We do not know. But we are optimistic and we want tennis to continue. We have to have some life on the court. “
Kuerten, who was at the press conference, received great words from Giudicelli, as the necessary ambassador to promote clay in the South American countries.
“Roland Garros with you and with South America is not just a love story, because realistically, although today in France 70% of the courts are clay, in Argentina 94% of the courts are clay. It is not at all surprising to see a woman and a man in the semifinals or to see two juniors in the quarterfinals born in Argentina, so we want to be more connected with you. We need you. We need you because you are the tennis landscape of South America. We need to protect you. We need to get you involved. We need clay-court ambassadors around the world. “
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