PARIS • French Open director Guy Forget is working hand in hand with tennis authorities to make sure the dates of the postponed Grand Slam tournament and those of the US Open do not clash.

The clay-court Major event had originally been slated to start yesterday, but the coronavirus pandemic forced organisers to push back the event to Sept 20.

That unilateral decision was met by fierce criticism within the tennis world, as it meant there would only be a one-week break between the scheduled final at Flushing Meadows and the opening day at Roland Garros.

But there has since been speculation in the French media, including daily L'Equipe, that the Sept 20 date might be pushed back by at least a week, if not longer.

Earlier this month, the French tennis federation also said it was in talks with the ATP and WTA Tours as well as the International Tennis Federation over a revised calendar for the season.

Forget told French radio Europe 1 on Saturday night that the US Open will decide whether the hard-court Slam can go ahead next month and French Open organisers will make a decision thereafter.

"It (the French Open) will probably be between the end of September and the beginning of October," he said.

"We've been working closely with the ATP, the WTA and the ITF to make a global announcement on what the circuit will be like until the end of the year.

"There are so many question marks. The city of New York is more affected by the coronavirus than France.

"They also have a lot of organisation problems, they will make an announcement mid-June to say how it's going to be like for the US Open."

France has banned events involving 5,000 or more people until the end of August.

5k Limit on people for events until August under the French government's measures to curb the pandemic.

And with every possibility that the ruling will be extended, speculation has mounted that the French Open will have to be played without fans for the first time.

Frenchman Henri Leconte, who reached the 1988 final, has since called for the Grand Slam to be cancelled if spectators are barred as there is "just no interest in having Roland Garros behind closed doors".

However, Forget is remaining optimistic that the French Open will be played under ideal conditions.

"We'll see how the situation is in a couple of months," he added. "We will adapt to what the government will say. We have to be ambitious."

REUTERS