Roland Garros courts future with roof and renovations

PARIS - After years of legal battles the French Open has begun to expand its facilities, hoping to match other Grand Slam tournaments - including having a roof over its center court - while preserving its Parisian pizzazz.

Roland Garros lags behind the other three slams in terms of covered courts - the Australian Open has a roof over three courts, the US Open will have a second roof by 2018 and Wimbledon will add a second one by 2019.

The French Open has none, which has had an adverse effect on revenue from television rights - with a court roof, play is guaranteed no matter how bad the weather is.

The expanded Roland Garros - the only major played on clay - will be delivered in 2019, with the roof over Court Philippe Chatrier available by 2020, according to Jean-Francois Martins, a deputy mayor of Paris in charge of sports.

Roland Garros has in recent years been at risk of losing its Grand Slam status, Martins revealed.

"In 2010 there was some real competition from Madrid. Spain was the king of clay and they had what it takes to host a Grand Slam. There was also competition from the Gulf countries, who were ready to offer some crazy prize money," he said.

"The only way for us was to be able to get more spectators."

Court One will be replaced with the "Court des Serres" (Greenhouse Court), flanked by tropical vegetation, and the number of seats increased from 3,600 to 5,000.

Court One, also known as The Bullring given its round shape, was built in 1980 and its unique character will be missed.

"I will personally miss Court One and the memories I keep from those high and low moments spent in that small stadium," said American great Jim Courier, twice French Open champion in the early 1990s.

"I never lifted a trophy on that court but it will remain my favorite tennis court in the world long after it is gone."

French Tennis Federation president Bernard Giudicelli believes the Parisian flair of the French Open will be preserved in the expansion of Roland Garros.

"If we decided to stay in Paris (after other plans were drafted to move to its outskirts), it is because we wanted to keep this Parisian identity," said Giudicelli.

"Roland Garros is Paris, it's France, its savoir-faire (social finesse), it's elegance and glam. And the Court des Serres will show just that. It will be a vegetal architecture, completely unique."

Martins added: "The French Open will remain unique because it's almost in central Paris - contrary to Wimbledon (located in south London) or the US Open (in eastern New York borough Queens), for example. What will change is that spectators will have a better experience walking around the courts. The venue (up to now) has been too small."

One of the traditional charms of Roland Garros has been the suspense created by the need to halt unfinished matches at dusk due to the lack of a roof, requiring them to resume the next day.

"I agree it was nice to have those (Gael) Monfils vs (Fabio) Fognini matches interrupted at 9:43 pm, for instance, but people who paid to see a match really want to see the end of it," said Martins.

"We have to make sure the matches are seen by as many spectators and TV viewers as possible."

Agence France-presse