Tennis events shutdown extended
The ATP Tour and International Tennis Federation ( ITF) have extended their suspensions of professional tennis until July 31 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they said on Friday.
The ATP and WTA announced in April that they were suspending all tournaments until July 13, with the WTA saying on Friday it had further suspended four events planned to be held in July.
The WTA added that it will in June provide an update on the tournaments scheduled for the latter half of July.
ATP events in Hamburg, Bastad, Newport, Los Cabos, Gstaad, Umag, Atlanta and Kitzbuhel will not go ahead as scheduled, while WTA events in Bastad, Lausanne, Bucharest and Jurmala scheduled for July will not be held.
The Hall of Fame Open in Newport, R. I., has been cancelled and organizers said the Hall of Fame Class of 2020 induction ceremony will not take place.
Tennis greats Conchita Martinez of Spain and Croatian Goran Ivanisevic will now be inducted in 2021.
“Due to continued uncertainties surrounding the COVID- 19 pandemic, we regret to announce our decision to extend the suspension of the Tour,” ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi said in a statement.
“We continue to assess all of our options in an effort to resume the Tour as soon as it is safe to do so, including the feasibility of rescheduling events later in the season.
“As ever, the health and well-being of the tennis community and wider public remains our top priority in every decision we make.”
The WTA said in a statement that it would make a decision on tournaments in Palermo and Karlsruhe, which were to begin on July 20 and 28 respectively, when the announcements to its revised calendar are made in June.
The ITF said all events — including ITF Juniors, Seniors, UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour, Beach Tennis Tour and the men’s and women’s ITF World Tennis Tour — would be suspended.
However, the ITF suspensions will not affect any of the Grand Slams with Wimbledon having already cancelled this year’s championships. The U. S. Open is scheduled to begin on Aug. 24, while the postponed French Open is now due to start on Sept. 20.
The Swiss Open in Gstaad has been cancelled while organizers of the Austrian Open in Kitzbuhel said they were looking at rescheduling the clay court tournament for September.
Hamburg organizers said they were “focusing on a possible postponement of the tournament.
“We have to closely monitor the rapidly evolving situation related to COVID-19 and we will wait for the next decisions of the ATP and the ITF regarding the North American swing, in particular the U. S. Open,” Hamburg tournament director Sandra Reichel said in a statement.