A final on Monday? French Open director details options after rain delay

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Paris, June 6: French Open tournament director Guy Forget did not rule out playing semi-finals across three courts or moving a final to Monday (June 10) if further rain delays strike on Friday (June 7).

Play was washed out on Wednesday (June 5) before any of the scheduled quarter-finals – which would have seen Simona Halep and Novak Djokovic in action – were able to get under way at Roland Garros.

The women's semi-finals were consequently pushed back in line with the men's on Friday, when more inclement weather is forecast, though Forget suggested the highly anticipated match between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will be the first match to take place.

In view of a potential scheduling pile-up, Forget acknowledged the solutions available are not "ideal" and pointed to the fact Nadal and Djokovic finished their 2012 final on a Monday following rain interruptions.

"The schedule of bad weather on Friday we know is a possibility. I just left the room to see the different options that we have. None of them are ideal, because we have the ladies' and the men's to be played," said Forget.

"We could technically play on three courts, but at one point it's a call we're going to have to make. We have the match with Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, which is the one that a lot of people are waiting for.

"But then, after that, we have two big finals, the women's and the men's, and we want to make the best we can so they can be played on time.

"The weather for [Thursday] seems to be Ok. So we will be able to move on with that schedule.

"If we achieve that, it's a good start. Then we will worry about Friday after that, but Friday is kind of complicated already. If you have to play the men's [semi-finals] at the same time, that's when we thought about playing on three courts."

On the possibility of having the men's semi-finals on Court Philippe-Chatrier and the women's on Court Suzanne-Lenglen on Friday, Forget said: "We are thinking about this option. And also why not have them play on a third court? We know that [Court] Simonne-Mathieu is a court that is very successful if things were to become worse.

"The ideal thing would be for both players to have the same recovery time. And the best way to get this result is for them to play their matches at the same time.

"If there is a rain interruption, then they are interrupted at the same time. In this way, there will be no player finishing the match 24 hours before the other.

"We saw that historically we can play men's finals on Monday. We remember the final between Djokovic and Nadal. We can think of the same thing for the women in terms of a disaster scenario."