Four competition courts and a covered waiting hall for spectators: two days after the end of the 2024 edition, the French Tennis Federation (FFT) unveiled this Tuesday the first new features for the next edition of the Masters 1000 in Paris , transferred to La Défense Arena in Nanterre.
Played since its creation in 1986 in Bercy, in the east of the capital, the tournament will be played from 2025, for its 40th edition (October 25 to November 2), in Nanterre, in the northwest.
Where the current venue could only accommodate three courts and around 15,000 spectators on the Central, the new site will have “four competition courts, including a central court with a capacity of 16,500, as well as a training court“, announces the FFT in a press release.
“The spaces for players will also be expanded, improved and modernized.“, add the tournament organizers.
According to an image of the future Central sent by the FFT, the space between the baselines and the stands will be increased.
The organizers also promise management “optimized“flows of spectators, who will be able to wait in a covered hall equipped with giant screens before accessing the stands. In Bercy, which according to the FFT experienced a “record d’affluence” in 2024 with 176,451 spectators, the queue stretched into the open air.
While the Masters 1000 in Paris is renowned for its atmosphere in the stands, “our ambition is to perpetuate the identity of our event, with an emphasis on innovation and modernity“, underlines tournament director Cédric Pioline, quoted in the press release.
“This move should allow the tournament to enter a new dimension“, he further asserts, while the event, non-mixed and equipped with comparatively more modest infrastructures compared to those of the other Masters 1000 (Indian Wells, Shanghai, etc.), has until now benefited from exemptions. of ATP.
