Entire French Open day rained out: Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic on hold

PARIS — For the first time in 16 years, an entire day’s play has been rained out at the French Open.

Sixteen years to the exact day, in fact, with May 30, 2000, being the last time officials here canceled play without hitting a ball.

Persistent and sometimes heavy rain fell in the early and mid-morning, then a constant drizzle left tournament organizers pushing the day’s start time back from 11 a.m. to noon and then to 1:30 p.m.

But just after 1:40 p.m. came a surprise announcement: No play today. Such an early decision to cancel play for the day is rare in tennis. Long days here have allowed for play until 9 p.m. or after so far this fortnight.

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A whole host of stars will have to come back to Roland Garros on Tuesday – when the forecast is also dodgy  – to try and get in their fourth-round matches, including Novak Djokovic, Serena and Venus Williams, Madison Keys, Agnieska Radwanska, Simona Halep and more.

What many fear is a backlog with no improvement in sight for the current weather conditions. All matches canceled Monday are fourth-round encounters, meaning, should they be played Tuesday, the women’s winners would have to come right back Wednesday to play their scheduled quarterfinals.

There is greater concern for the men’s side, since in Grand Slam tennis they play best-of-five-set matches. How the schedule will be altered from here on out has led to some talk about a Monday men’s final if the situation doesn’t get better.

While the grumbling was audible Monday, those safely into the quarterfinals get an upper hand: No. 2 seed Andy Murray, defending champion Stan Wawrinka, American Shelby Rogers and Wimbledon finalist Garbine Muguruza.

The forecast calls for a chance of rain Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, while Friday through Sunday is supposed to be cloudy. The Monday after the French Open is the first in the forecast with any chance of sun.

Last week tournament director Guy Forget said a planned roof would not go over Court Philippe Chatrier here until 2020 at the earliest. He addressed the issue at a news conference Monday, using the rainy day to call for swifter action by French officials and the court system to help approvals by the tournament go through for an expansion plan and the roof.

"I'm coming in front of you to express my frustration," Forget said, looking to the rainy skies outside. "It is rather hard when you've been dreaming of the tournament and we have to send players back to their hotels early in the day."

Forget said Tuesday's forecast looked more promising, and said at this point officials hoped for the tournament to finish on time, with the women's final held on Saturday and men's final Sunday.

"I'm not going to lie to you," he added, "I'm not going to say, 'Oh, it's going to be great, everything's fine.' "

Asked to put a limit on the number of five-set matches men had to play consecutively (for example, some are now potentially playing four in six days) to finish the event on time, Forget could not give an answer.

"We're not that bad yet," he said. "But eventually if they have to play two matches in a row, they will do it. ... We are not the first tournament to be hurt by really extreme conditions."

The U.S. Open finished its event a day late — Monday — from 2011 to 2014. Then last year's men's final was played Sunday night after a rain delay.

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