The Italian Open announced on Sunday plans to build a retractable roof over its premier court after this year’s tournament was hampered by poor weather.
Rain in Rome on Saturday resulted in Daniil Medvedev’s match against Stefanos Tsitsipas not getting finished until late in the evening with the time difference between the first and last point of their match being more than six hours. Subsequently, the women’s final didn’t finish until after midnight with Elena Rybakina beating Anhelina Kalinina 6-4, 1-0, ret. Some have questioned the decision to not suspend the women’s final until Sunday with Kalinina saying during her press conference they had no choice in the matter due to a ‘packed Sunday schedule.’
Undoubtedly Rome’s poor weather has been problematic for organizers but the hope is that such issues will no longer happen in the future after a green light was given to turn their centre court into an all-year venue. Organizers confirmed in the press conference that they hope to install a roof over the court by 2026.
“The roof is coming,” Vito Cozzoli, the CEO of the Italian government agency Sport e Salute, told reporters. “The feasibility plan has been approved and it will be a futuristic project that will make the Foro Italico’s center court usable year round.”
The roof design contract has been given to the Genoa-based Frigerio Design Group. According to the Associated Press, the timeline of construction begins with a process to obtain permits to build a roof which could take up to 10 months. Then construction will go on for 18-24 months with there being pauses in work during the 2024 and 2025 tournaments.
Italy has been devastated by flooding in recent days. Regional officials in the north of the country estimate that roughly 36,000 people have been forced to leave their homes. The AFP news agency reports that as of Saturday 20th May, there have been 305 landslides and 500 roads have been either damaged or closed. At least 13 people have been killed by the flooding.
In a show of support to those affected, the Italian Tennis Federation (FITP) says those living in the affected areas who have purchased tickets for the later stages of the Italian Open will be given a refund. The organization has also pledged to help sports clubs that have been affected.
“We will refund all tickets purchased between Thursday and Sunday to all residents on the list of Municipalities affected by the flood that the Government will draw up,” FITP president Angelo Binaghi announced.
“We were amazed by what happened here in Rome, in our memory something like this had never happened. But it is only a very small part of the disaster that hit the towns of Emilia-Romagna”.
“As a federation, we want to issue contributions by helping our sports clubs whose facilities were damaged by the disaster. We have commissioned the Emilia-Romagna committee to carry out a census to calculate the extent of the damage.”
This year is the first time the Italian Open has taken place over two weeks. Despite the men’s and women’s draws being of the same size, there is no equal prize money. Something the tournament has vowed to ressolve over the coming years.
