For "at least a little while longer," the construction permits for the latest French Open expansion project "remain on hold as the local and national authorities squabble among themselves," according to Christopher Clarey of the N.Y. TIMES.
The French Tennis Federation’s plan, often revised and often delayed, "calls for the tournament to build a new show court with a capacity of 4,800" in the botanical gardens adjacent to Roland Garros Stadium. But a "loose and vocal" coalition of neighbors, ecologists and other groups "is still trying to block that project." An outraged worker in the gardens said, "It’s a scandal. All this for a two-week tennis tournament."
Instead, the opposition "backs an alternative plan that would entail covering a highway that runs near the stadium and expanding the Grand Slam event in a different direction." Rhetoric "is soaring and nerves are fraying, which is understandable, considering that it has now been four years since the French Tennis Federation voted in 2011 to keep the French Open at its current site in Paris." The agreement "hinged on the ability to expand into the gardens and also build a retractable roof over the main Philippe Chatrier Court." The work "was all supposed to be completed by 2016" (N.Y. TIMES, 5/22).
