The “new Roland Garros” will be very new indeed, with hardly anything left from the original, which was built in a hurry in 1928 to provide a suitably grand venue to defend the Davis Cup that France’s four musketeers — Henri Cochet, René Lacoste, Jean Borotra and Jacques Brugnon — had finally managed to win.

But then at least the tournament is still here in Paris. In 2011, the federation flirted with the idea of moving it out of the city altogether to Versailles or another suburb, before voting to stay put.

There has been cause to question that, with the construction delays and well-founded fear that Roland Garros was losing ground in both prestige and means to the other three Grand Slam tournaments: the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the United States Open.

The French Open’s total prize money this year of 36 million euros ($40.4 million) ranks third behind the U.S. Open and Wimbledon. Even with the expansion from 8.6 hectares to 11.16 hectares, Roland Garros will still rank last in surface area and the number of roofed stadiums.

“I think we need to play the card of our own identity,” Giudicelli said. “France is not a continent like the United States. We don’t have the facility that will allow us the vast spaces available to the Australian Open.”

The goal is to emphasize “boutique” and “chic,” although anyone who has had to line up in the drizzle for an overpriced baguette over the years has felt anything but chic.

Image Bernard Giudicelli, the newly elected president of the French Tennis Federation. “It’s our project of the century,” he says of the planned revisions to Roland Garros. Credit... Sipa, via AP Images

Giudicelli, one of those who spearheaded the expansion project, considers the tournament’s recent difficulties a necessary evil.