We have seen sport around the world closed down due to the coronavirus. Tennis being one of the first of the big sports to close things down after Indian Wells was cancelled.
Below is a photo from the last tournament actually played in Canberra. The smoke that enveloped the city saw a Challenger tournament moved to Bendigo in January of this year and just days out from the 2020 clay court tournaments the coronavirus suspension saw the Canberra clay court tournaments postponed.
Below is the text from an update from the ATP. At the end of the message they had a dig at the French Open organisers after they had rescheduled their tournament without consulting other key stakeholders.
After careful consideration, and due to the continuing outbreak of COVID-19, all ATP and WTA tournaments tin the Spring clay-court swing will not be held as scheduled. This includes the combined ATP/WTA tournaments in Madrid and Rome, along with the WTA events in Strasbourg and Rabat and ATP events in Munich, Estoril, Geneva and Lyon.
The professional tennis season is now suspended through 7 June 2020, including the ATP Challenger Tour and ITF World Tennis Tour. At this time, tournaments taking place from 8 June 2020 onwards are still planning to go ahead as per the published schedule.
In parallel, the FedEx ATP Rankings and WTA Rankings will be frozen throughout this period and until further notice.
The challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic to professional tennis demand greater collaboration than ever from everyone in the tennis community in order for the sport to move forward collectively in the best interest of players, tournaments and fans.
We are assessing all options related to preserving and maximising the tennis calendar based on various return dates for the Tours, which remains an unknown at this time. We are committed to working through these matters with our player and tournament members, and the other governing bodies, in the weeks and months ahead.
Now is not a time to act unilaterally, but in unison. All decisions related to the impact of the coronavirus require appropriate consultation and review with the stakeholders in the game, a view that is shared by ATP, WTA, ITF, AELTC, Tennis Australia, and USTA.
Leave a Reply