Coronavirus pandemic: Roland Garros rescheduled to September-October following COVID-19 outbreak

The second tennis grand slam of the year, the Roland Garros, has been moved to later in the calendar, it was announced on Tuesday. The clay court slam, originally scheduled for 18 May to 7 June, has now been moved to 20 September - 4 October. [caption id=“attachment_6700581” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] The tennis calendar has already been significantly affected with men’s ATP Tour, women’s WTA Tour and the ITF cancelling tournaments. As it stands, ATP have cancelled tournaments until 20 April , WTA until 2 May and ITF until the week of 20 April. “Though nobody is able to predict what the situation will be on 18th May, the current confinement measures have made it impossible for us to continue with our preparations and, as a result, we are unable to hold the tournament on the dates originally planned,” said the French Tennis Federation in a statement. “We have made a difficult yet brave decision in this unprecedented situation, which has evolved greatly since last weekend. We are acting responsibly, and must work together in the fight to ensure everybody’s health and safety,” explained Bernard Giudicelli, President of the FFT. **Follow LIVE updates on coronavirus pandemic here** On the men’s tour, Indian Wells, Miami Open, Clay Court Championship, Hassan II Grand Prix, Monte Carlo Masters and Barcelona Open have all been suspended. WTA Tour made the move to cancel all tournaments on 2 May which has thus affected Indian Wells, Abierto Zapopan, Miami Open, Volvo Car Open in Charleston, Copa Colsanitas in Bogota, Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Istanbul Open and Prague Open.