Tennis tours extend coronavirus breaks
london— More than 40 top-level professional tennis tournaments are off the sport’s 2020 calendar because of the coronavirus pandemic as of Friday, when the men’s and women’s tours extended their breaks and the sport’s Hall of Fame canceled its induction ceremony.
ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi said in a statement that his tour, which now has ruled out any competition before August, is assessing the “feasibility of rescheduling events later in the season.”
Some tennis exhibitions have been organised, with small fields and zero spectators, but no sanctioned play has been allowed since early March.
The ATP said Friday the post-Wimbledon grass-court Hall of Fame Open in Newport, Rhode Island, and a hard-court US Open tuneup in Atlanta were among the events that “will not take place as scheduled.” Others added to the tour’s suspension of play are in Hamburg, Germany; Bastad, Sweden; Los Cabos, Mexico; Gstaad, Switzerland; Umag, Croatia; and Kitzbuhel, Austria. In addition to the cancellation of its July 11-18 tournament, the International Tennis Hall of Fame said its 2020 class of Goran Ivanisevic and Conchita Martinez will be honored alongside any Class of 2021 inductees next year.
The WTA added tournaments in Bastad; Lausanne, Switzerland; Bucharest, Romania; and Jurmala, Latvia, to its list of cancellations. The women’s tour also said “a decision regarding the dates in which” events in Palermo, Sicily (scheduled for July 20-26), and Karlsruhe, Germany (July 28 to Aug. 2), “may be played” will be made in June. -