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Couldn't the French Open move to April?

chemical2009bchemical2009b Posts: 5,250
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in Sport #1
As of next year Wimbledon will start a week later to allow the players more time to recover from the French Open, prepare and get used to the grass courts, if that is the case than could they not switch the FO to April instead? The Aussie Open is in January so a three month gap from the AO to the FO wouldn't make a difference.

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  • Sabre92Sabre92 Posts: 726
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    #2
    Probably to do with the weather. Less chance of the tournament being rain-affected if it's in May/June rather than April, and also warmer for the fans there.

    Also generally speaking the French Open and Wimbledon are the culmination of the clay and grass court seasons respectively, so moving the FO to April would put it right in the middle of the clay calendar.
  • MARTYM8MARTYM8 Posts: 44,710
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    #3
    Under the new calendar Miami is pushed back a week so doesn’t finish until the first Sunday in April now. Then you have Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Lisbon and then Madrid for the men.

    April is therefore Miami followed by the Mediterranean clay court season – so there is no time to hold the French open which is more suited to late May when the weather is better usually in Paris. It would probably get rained off if it was held in April.
  • louise1966louise1966 Posts: 4,012
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    #4
    Regarding the grand slams, the Australian is in exactly the right month, as is the French. Wimbledon could be moved back to the second week in July, with no adverse effects, and the US Open to October. This would give the players a little extra time in between playing longer tournaments, and more time to recover from said GSs. But then there are the respective mens' and ladies' end of year tour championships. They are professionals and shouldn't require more time to switch from playing on one surface to another. In reality, they should be able to play on clay one week, and hard court the next. Grass is a bit more complex, but the grass court season is only a tiny part of the year, based around Wimbledon. Richard Krajicek once said "grass is for cows", but I'm proud of the UK spearheading the surface and, despite all of the negatives, was disappointed when the Australian switched from grass.
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