The French Open could follow in the footsteps of Wimbledon by installing a US$167 million retractable roof - as well as building a brand new stadium.

The stadium, which will be funded by the French Tennis Federation, the national government and the local Paris administration, is likely to be complete in five years.

Unlike Wimbledon, where organisers installed a complex roof system over the existing Centre Court, the new stadium will be built separately, a five minute walk from Roland Garros, the home of the French Open. The tournament is also looking into the possiblity of erecting a roof at the current structure, but is thought to favour the first option.

"Wimbledon is way ahead of us at the moment," said tournament director Gilbert Ysern at the competition yesterday. "This competition with the four Grand Slam events is good for the game. It's just an idea at the moment, but we are looking into it."

The French Open is the world's premier clay court tournament, and has been dominated in recent years by world number one Rafael Nadal, arguably the greatest clay court player of all time. Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic, the second, third and fourth-ranked players in the world, have all followed Nadal into the second round of this year's competition, but play was suspended yesterday because of the rain.

"It's always a good idea to have a roof so then we can continue the match and we don't have to stop and wait around for an hour or more and then come back on court," said former women's world number one Jelena Jankovic, who was 4-1 ahead in the first set against Petra Cetkovska, but had to endure a two hour rain break before sealing the win.