2020 French Open Start Date Pushed Back to September 27 Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

The start of the 2020 French Open has been delayed by another week amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Roland-Garros announced in March the French Tennis Federation postponed the major until Sept. 20. On Tuesday, the federation updated the timeline and said the main draw will now begin on Sept. 27 instead, per Tennis.com.

A delay allows for some level of positivity since officials are still planning to stage the French Open. But any delay—no matter how minor—this far out from the event raises further doubts about whether it will ultimately happen.

Sports Illustrated's Jon Wertheim reported Monday it was looking like the French Open wouldn't start until October, with the French government banning any sporting events before September.

The ATP Tour and WTA suspended all tournaments until July 13 at the earliest, with Wimbledon the most notable casualty. The work required to maintain the grass surface at the All England Club made a move to the fall unfeasible.

That's not an issue for the French Open, but it remains far from assured that the pandemic will have slowed enough to allow for the best players in the world to descend upon Paris.

Rafael Nadal expressed skepticism about the fate of the 2020 season as a whole.

"I hope we can return before the end of the year but unfortunately, I don't think so," he said to Spanish paper El Pais (h/t Malik Ouzia of the Evening Standard). "I would sign up to being ready for 2021."

Nadal added he thinks the current campaign "is practically lost."

Under the French Open's current plan, the qualifying draw would run from Sept. 21-25, and the entire spectacle would conclude Oct. 11.