Roland Garros: Approval Of Expansion Plans A Must Or Event Could Fade

Written by: Staff on 23rd May 2013

Roland Garros: Approval Of Expansion Plans A Must Or Event Could Fade

epa03258082 Rafael Nadal of Spain returns to Novak Djokovic of Serbia during their final match for the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 10 June 2012. EPA/YOAN VALAT |

Roland Garros tournament director Gilbert Ysern plans to keep pushing the tournament’s expansion project despite the fact that an administrative court ruled a few months ago that the deal between the French Tennis Federation over their architectural plans for the next door botanical gardens was deemed illegal by the administrative court

“We signed a new agreement to occupy the public space with the City of Paris for 50 years,” Ysern told AFP. “We are the official new occupants. We’ll continue to move forward. We will submit a [new] building permit before the summer.”

Environmental opponents of the project have suggested expanding the site into nearby streets, but Ysern said that’s impossible. “The Mayor of Paris has asked for a study of that proposal, and commissioned a consulting firm and conclusions are expected, but we already know that this does not work in space. What might work is a more ambitious coverage [of the streets], but that would be much more expensive. Our project is very beautiful. It fully respects the major greenhouses. It affects only a small part of the greenhouses in the south east [of the gardens], which has no architectural merit and we intend to make to make them even more beautiful.

Plans include renovating and putting a retractable roof on the main stadium, Phillipe Chatrier, which will lead to night tennis for the first time. The site will expand across a small street into the botanical gardens, build a new training center, also renovate the second stadium, Suzanne Lenglen, and install a show court with 5,000 seats that will be surrounded by greenhouses. The expansion is estimated to cost around 295 million Euros, (392 million dollars), although that cost could rise when the new plans are unleashed. The size of grounds of the tournament will be expanded by around 60% as officials try to open up its crowded walkways.

Currently, Roland Garros is paying the city of Paris 1.5 million Euros per year as a fee to host the event, which will increase to around 3 million Euros between 2012 and 2015, and then 7 million in 2016, when the roof should be on Chatrier.

Paris was chosen to continue as the site of Roland Garros over two bigger areas outside of the city near Euro Disney and Versailles. The current space is Paris is already cramped. Ysern says that the project cannot fail

“There is no alternative. The tournament has hit the wall in its current configuration. Soon players will not want to come because they will be better treated elsewhere. The comfort level that we now offer is no longer up to snuff. In the first week, the players are confined to the locker room. The [new] stadiums are vital for the survival of the tournament. It is in the interest of the French tennis, but also the interest of Paris. This is a national issue. Once we identified the need, we did so law-abiding and [respecting] the environment. The site will be more beautiful than before.”

Ysern went so far as to say that while the historic tournament will always be considered a Grand Slam, that if they cannot make improvements, then fans and players may stop coming.

“Thirty years ago, Australia was a Grand Slam and the top players decided not to go,” Ysern said. “They are pampered everywhere and sought everywhere; they have a royal treatment. Today, if an emir offers them a fortune to play an exhibition during Roland Garros, they prefer Roland. But tomorrow? There are plenty of players on the circuit coming from young countries without much tennis tradition and history and to them Roland Garros means nothing.”

©Daily Tennis News Wire

Topics: French Open, French Tennis Federation, Gilbert Ysern, Roland Garros, Roland Garros improvements, Tennis News