Following the conclusion of one of the Italian Open 2024, tournament organizers have promised to install a retractable roof over the tennis court by 2026. The press conference that concluded the Internazionali BNL d’Italia 2024 touched upon several themes – thoughts to the population of Emilia-Romagna, who was hit by a flood, and the analysis of numbers from this historic upgraded edition of the tournament. But the major focus was the announcement that the Campo Centrale will be renovated and the retractable roof would be added. “The roof is coming,” Vito Cozzoli, the CEO of the Italian government agency Sport e Salute, said Sunday. “The feasibility plan has been approved and it will be a futuristic project that will make the Foro Italico’s center court usable year round.” The Campo Centrale stadium was opened in 2010 and a retractable roof plan has been in the works for years without much concrete progress. The arena is also supposedly intended for other indoor sports such as basketball and volleyball, as well as host indoor concerts. 2,000 more seats will be added to Campo Centrale, raising the capacity to 12,500. Also Read: “I would love every tennis court to be 10 metres large and 10 metres wide”- Daniil Medvedev
Delay in Major Matches
This year’s tournament had been upgraded to a 96-player draw, taking place over two weeks. The semifinal between Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas was suspended due to rain for a total of nearly 4 ½ hours, which pushed the start of the women’s final back to nearly 11 p.m. The start of the men’s final between Medvedev and Holger Rune was also delayed due to rain on Sunday. Therefore, organizers felt the need to install the retractable roof.
Retractable Roof Designers and Timings
Genoa-based Frigerio Design Group was given the roof designing contract after a bidding process that included 33 different proposals. Eight to ten months would be required to obtain the necessary building permits for the roof. After which construction would go on for the next year and a half/ two years with breaks taken during the 2024 and 2025 Italian Open tournaments. The focus of the new roof is stated to be on sustainability, with the building of a structure that blends perfectly with the landscape and the nature surrounding the monumental complex of the capital. Also Read: Novak Djokovic scripts UNWANTED record after quarterfinal loss to Holger Rune in Italian Open
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