Rain delayed play at the French Open on Tuesday. Roland Garros will not have a roof over the main court before 2018, if then.  PARIS — Another day’s play at the French Open was about to begin, and the tournament’s director, Gilbert Ysern, sat in his office chair with clenched fists and delivered a series of mock blows to his own chin.  ‘'Look, I’d be lying if I said there weren’t days when we are a bit punch drunk,'’ Ysern said. ‘'There are lots of things that have hit us and are happening that are not so easy to handle.'’  It has been a challenging stretch indeed for those who run what is still the world’s premier clay-court tournament, and the obstacle course is far from finished.  The tussle with the men’s players over their stake of the prize money appears to be resolved for now after a commitment to a major, medium-term pay raise.  Absorbing that cost (and everything else) will not be straightforward, but the bigger issue is what happens next for Roland Garros, which is by far the smallest in acreage of the four Grand Slam events and is still trying to push through its plans to expand into the adjacent botanical gardens and put a roof over its primary court, the Philippe Chatrier Court.  The rain on Tuesday, which delayed play for several hours, was only the latest reminder of what Roland Garros was still missing. While the Australian Open is completing work on its third stadium with a retractable roof and Wimbledon has announced plans to start work on its second roof-equipped court, the French Open is now looking at completing its reconstruction work and expansion in 2018 after initially targeting 2016.  That is only if the French Tennis Federation and city of Paris win the legal battle over the project.  “To save the tournament, we have to be able to make this project a reality,” said Jean Gachassin, the president of the French Tennis Federation.  “By save it, I mean that without this project, we’re going to be in competition with other countries who want to do the same thing,” Gachassin said. “I know we are being threatened by certain regions of the world like Asia, or a Qatar, who has lots of money and want to build big stadiums. But there won’t be the soul and the history, just lots of money."’  Few venues can go from chic to refugee camp as quickly as Roland Garros in the rain, where the lack of cover and wide walkways can make much of the site feel like a Métro car at rush hour with the added obstacle of open umbrellas. Even when it doesn’t rain, there is clearly an elbow-room issue.  The biggest concern is, of course, television. Hours of rain mean hours of vintage matches and other filler. It is certainly not lost on the players, who generally dislike the French Open’s Sunday start, that after three days, it is still behind on its first-round schedule.  ‘'Look, in our era, it’s essential to have a roof,'’ Gachassin said. ‘'You just can’t postpone finals to the next day anymore in society today.'’  Nonetheless, that is precisely what happened last year when Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic needed two days to complete their final, won by Nadal in four sets. And it could certainly happen again (and again) until 2018.  Five years is rather a long time to remain vulnerable in a hyper-competitive industry, although the French Open is not the only Grand Slam event in this predicament. The United States Open’s leadership has announced its desire to put a roof over Arthur Ashe Stadium but has yet to commit to a project, in part because of the daunting engineering challenges.  The French have their plan, which they introduced in full on Saturday, and it will essentially rebuild the Chatrier court on the existing foundations, giving it a markedly sleeker and more modern look. To manage the construction while staging the tournament each year without a break, the French will have to work section-by-section in 10-month phases.  The goal is not just to rebuild a structure that can support a roof, which, like Wimbledon’s roof over Centre Court, will be of the folding variety. The French federation’s goal is also to modernize the facilities, as much a part of Grand Slam tennis as forehands backhands and volleys (sorry, forget the volleys, players don’t do that much anymore).
The site of the French Open knows quaint doesn’t count for much at a modern Grand Slam any more, but Paris has yet to approve its renovation plan.