Austria approves fan-free F1 races

Formula One can start its season in Austria with two races behind closed doors on July 5 and 12, the country’s health ministry said on Saturday.

The delayed championship, which was due to get going in Australia in March, has had to cancel or postpone a string of races — including the Monaco highlight — due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Austrian grand prix circuit, the scenic Red Bull

Ring owned by the energy drink brand, is near the village of Spielberg about 200 km southwest of Vienna.

Formula One is expected to publish a revamped calendar early next week with a race in neighbouring Hungary, also without spectators, following on from Austria.

Two races will then follow at Silverstone in Britain, with Hockenheim in Germany an alternative if quarantine conditions are an obstacle, with further rounds in Spain, Belgium and Italy.

Formula One has said it hopes to do between 15 to 18 races, a reduction from the originally scheduled record 22, ending the season in Abu Dhabi in December after visiting Asia and the Americas.

TENNIS SHORTS

■ Dominic Thiem, Nick Kyrgios, Kiki Bertens and Elina Svitolina are among the men’s and women’s pros set to compete in grass and hardcourt events in Berlin in July.

The competition will be closed to spectators due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Six men and six women will compete on grass from July 13-15 at Steffi Graf Stadium before moving to a hard court in a hangar at Tempelhof Airport from July 17-19, according to Agence France-Presse.

The ATP and WTA tours have been on hiatus since mid-March.

n Italy’s Fabio Fognini had surgery on both ankles Saturday.

The world’s 11th-ranked player said on Twitter that the sport’s coronavirus-related hiatus made it the right time to have the operations.

“After medical examination and a long discussion with my team, I decided to have arthroscopy surgery on both ankles,” Fognini wrote.