French Open 2012: No Roofs, No Lights, No Service

The French Open Men's Singles Final has experienced an onslaught of physical and emotional dipping points to parallel the unaccommodating bouts of disruptive weather.

In a match that means so much to the legacies of both men and the record books, it seems a bitter injustice to have had to postpone this climaxing match at its peak.

The natural, unfettered pattern of this match has been devoured and regurgitated into one dictated by mother nature's seemingly ill will.

Whether the delays in play served as a hindrance or catalyst to Nadal and/or Djokovic can be debated and grappled over, but what is truly fortified is the abundantly glaring hole stemming from the lack of preventive measures by the French Open staff.

Out of all the grand slams, the French Open is the only one to have neither a roof nor lights on its premier court.   

It seems utterly bizarre for one of the four main tennis tournaments in the entire world to have no discernible protection against intruding weather.   

As mentioned, even if the French Open only had one of these two features, we would not be left to ponder over the outcome of arguably the single most important tennis match to have occurred in the last three years.

If there was a roof, play would be stopped for around 20-30 minutes, representing a relatively minute halting of play. It is clearly the most logical action to limit the impact of inclement weather. As for the less desirable fixture, the integration of lights would allow stoppage of play for lengthy amounts of time, as the lighting would obviously provide the necessary environment for the match to carry on throughout the night.   

Nécessité est mère d'invention. Necessity is the mother of invention.

The ideal and abundantly clear message invoked by this French proverb is clear and concise. And fortunately enough, as I am pleased to say, French Open organizers have already begun the renovations, and a retractable roof is scheduled to be a trademark of Philippe Chatrier by 2017.

This change is about 120 years too late, but I guess it's better now than never.