With 1,000 spectators, it made (a little) noise at Roland Garros three weeks ago.
The AccorHotels Arena, it will ring hollow, it is a certainty, one year after having beaten its attendance record (151,000 spectators).
Initially envisaged with 1,000 spectators per day, the Parisian Masters 1000 will take place completely behind closed doors, following new government measures establishing a re-containment from October 30.
A lesser evil according to tournament director Guy Forget: “We had expressed various possibilities. We could have simply canceled.
That was not the case.
We are certainly a little disappointed with the closed session but the tournament will take place, that is the positive point and that is the essential.
We do it for the players. "
In complete privacy with only 1,500 accredited members (players, staffs, organization, collectors, referees, security ...) and about twenty journalists present on the site ...
"The prize money is less, but everyone has to stick together and accept the reductions"
Guy Forget
This 2020 edition is also placed under the sign of austerity and solidarity, with a prize money down by more than 25% compared to last year and a very different redistribution.
The winner, who will succeed Novak Djokovic, will receive a check for "only" 301,975 euros, less than a third of what the Serbian had gleaned in 2019. The finalist, he will have to "be satisfied" with 227,000 euros instead of 503.730, one year ago.
On the other hand, the most "modest" have been upgraded.
A loss in qualifying brings in 6,160 euros, against 3,725 last season.
“The prize money is less, but everyone has to come together and accept the cuts,” says Forget.
We had the financial support of ATP and other Masters 1000 to balance our balance sheet.
We do not know what can happen tomorrow at 500 or 250 tournaments and we know that 2021 will be another difficult year. ”.
Djokovic, Federer, Thiem or even Monfils absent
If many cadors, including Rafael Nadal, are present, are still missing three of the four best players in the world.
Winner last year and five-time winner of the tournament (record), Novak Djokovic, sure to finish the year number one in the world, skips to better prepare for the London Masters.
No Djokovic, no Federer, either.
The Swiss, who had surgery on his right knee in the spring, announced in June that he would not resume competition until 2021. No Dominic Thiem, either.
The winner of the US Open, victim of a big blister under the left foot, after his elimination in Vienna against Andrey Rublev, preferred to throw in the towel.
The two best French in the ranking are absent subscribers.
The season is over for Gaël Monfils.
The 11th in the world with a lack of results since resuming the circuit (four defeats for as many matches) is already looking to 2021, just like Benoît Paire, the French number two.
"I am a little disappointed that some do not seize this opportunity, slips Forget without naming them.
There is something at stake.
It's one of the nine biggest tournaments in the world outside the Grand Slam, so why go without when some have gone several months without hitting the ball?
But the others are saying thank you for maintaining this tournament, and it's nice. Our mission goes beyond the promotion of the game, we have to support the players.
France will have responded and we can be proud of it. ”
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Three weeks after Roland-Garros, Paris has established itself almost as the tennis capital of the world during this period of the Covid-19 pandemic and concerns.
Make way for the game. Promoted favorite on paper, Rafael Nadal will still have a lot to do with the impressive Andrey Rublev, winner in Vienna on Sunday, and who remains on fifteen consecutive victories on the circuit.
Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas also have the weapons to shine in the privacy of the AccorHotels Arena.
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