Tennis in General - Results and Comments

On Tuesday morning, the Mutua Madrid Open announced in a statement that the tournament is officially canceled. “As an act of responsibility in view of the current situation caused by Covid-19, and having thoroughly evaluated the circumstances that the pandemic continues to generate, together with the competent authorities, it has been decided that 2020 Mutua Madrid Open will not take place this year having previously been moved to 12-20 September”, the statement begins. Tournament director Feliciano Lopez helped stage a virtual, video-game Mutua Madrid Open earlier this year, and held out hope that the real thing could be held as a lead-in to Roland Garros, which along with the Internazionali BNL d'Italia is still on the ATP and WTA schedule. After Monday's widespread belief that the event was all but nixed, the unfortunate reality hit today. “We have given our all to stage the tournament”, said Lopez. “After the first cancelation in May, we got to work on the September date with the hope of being able to enjoy first-class tennis in the Caja Mágica during this year which has been so hard for everyone. However, the continued instability is still too great to hold a tournament like this in complete safety. Once again, we would like to thank the Madrid City Council and all of our sponsors and suppliers for being by our side during every step we have taken”. The ATP and WTA issued a joint statement on the decision, applauding the efforts of tournament organizers and stating that an updated schedule would be forthcoming. Both Andrea Gaudenzi, ATP Chairman, and Steve Simon, WTA Chairman and CEO, looked forward to the clay-court tournament's return in 2021.

NEXT WEEK SCHEDULE :

Palermo (Italy), 3-9 August : "31° Palermo Ladies Open"
Category : WTA International
Prize Money : $ 275.000
Surface : Red Clay

The "Toray Pan Pacific Open" in Tokyo has been cancelled for 2020 due to safety fears amid the COVID-19 pandemic, organisers of the annual women's tournament said on Tuesday. Last week, the men's ATP Tour and the women's WTA were forced to cancel all of their remaining tournaments in China for this year in the wake of the country's ban on international sporting events due to the pandemic. "The executive committee, together with the WTA, has been exploring various measures to hold the tournament, such as holding matches without spectators", the organisers of the Premier level tournament said in a statement. "But we have come to the tough conclusion that the cancellation of the tournament was the best decision in the interest of public health, especially in light of the concern about the second wave of infection spreading in Japan". The Pan Pacific Open is part of WTA's Asian swing and has been held every year since its 1984 start. It was originally scheduled to be held in September but was postponed to November. Following this cancellation, the "Korea Open" in Seoul is the only event left in Asia on WTA's provisional calendar for 2020.

Eleven men's and women's tennis tournaments planned for China in October and November, including the WTA Finals, were cancelled today amid the Coronavirus pandemic. Rather than try to move or reschedule any of those events, the ATP and WTA tours announced they were scrapping all of them after China's General Administration of Sport said that country would not host any international sporting events the rest of this year because of the COVID-19 outbreak. "We are extremely disappointed that our world-class events in China will not take place this year", WTA Chairman Steve Simon said. "We do, however, respect the decision that has been made", Simon said "and are eager to return to China as soon as possible next season". His group called off seven women's tournaments (in addition to the WTA Finals, also the WTA Premier Mandatory in Beijing, the WTA Premier 5 in Wuhan, the WTA Premier in Zhengzhou, the three WTA International in Tianjin, Nanchang and Guangzhou and the WTA Elite Trophy in Zhuhai); the ATP wiped four men's events (the "Rolex Shanghai Masters", its only Masters 1000 tournament in Asia, the ATP 500 in Beijing and the two ATP 250 in Chengdu and Zhuhai). "Our approach throughout this pandemic has been to always follow local guidance when staging events. We respect the Chinese government's decision to do what's best for the country in response to the unprecedented global situation", ATP Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi said. "It's with a heavy heart that we announce ATP tournaments will not be played in China this year". The men's tour said it will continue to try to work on arranging a tour calendar for the latter stages of this year, including the ATP Finals scheduled for November. All sanctioned tennis has been on hold since March because of the pandemic, and both tours are tentatively planning to resume in August. This week, though, the ATP cancelled its tournament that was slated for Washington, with qualifying to begin on August 13. The WTA still intends to return to action in Palermo, Italy, on August 3. The next Grand Slam tournament as of now is the U.S. Open, which is supposed to start in New York on August 31. The French Open has been postponed from May to late September.

The Citi Open in Washington, which was scheduled to relaunch the men’s tennis tour next month, has been canceled for 2020. The tournament was set to begin on August 14 and serve as a lead-in event for the United States Open. But Mark Ein, the Citi Open chairman, said concern about international travel restrictions and recent trends in the coronavirus had led to the cancellation. “When we committed to host the event all the trends were going in our favor, and halfway through the process they all reversed,” Ein said by telephone on Tuesday. “Then we ran out of time. With a little more time we may have been able to overcome the obstacles that were in front of us, but it’s better to make a decision for all the stakeholders before it gets to the last minute.” The decision, made on Monday, will increase doubts about this year’s U.S. Open, which is scheduled to be played without spectators in New York from August 31 to September 13. But Stacey Allaster, the U.S. Open tournament director, reaffirmed Monday that plans remained on track for a doubleheader at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. The Western & Southern Open is to be played there from August 22 to 28 as a prelude to the U.S. Open, with players and officials operating inside a health and safety “bubble”, similar to those being used by the N.B.A. and other leagues. The WTA Tour plans to be the first to resume with a clay-court event in Palermo, Italy, from August 3 to 9. That will be followed by a clay-court event in Prague and a new hardcourt event, the Top Seed Open, in Lexington, from August 10 to 16, that already has commitments from Serena and Venus Williams. But the ATP Tour has no plans to fill the gap left by the Citi Open’s cancellation. “I know how hard Mark Ein and his team have worked to adapt to new and continually changing conditions and would like to recognize their outstanding commitment to staging the event,” said Andrea Gaudenzi, the ATP chairman, in a statement. “Unfortunately for the moment there are still large factors at play, which are outside of our control. For now, the ATP season will resume in New York with the Western & Southern Open, followed by the U.S. Open. But those events, if they do take place, are uncertain to attract full-strength fields with some men’s players likely to remain in Europe and restart their seasons on clay. Novak Djokovic, the world’s top-ranked player, and Rafael Nadal, the reigning U.S. Open men’s singles champion, are among those considering that option.

The inaugural version of the revamped Fed Cup Finals has been moved to next year, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) announced on Friday. Twelve nations were set to contest the showpiece team event in Budapest in April but it was postponed after the COVID-19 pandemic closed down the tennis season. It will now take place from April 13-18 next year on indoor clay at the Laszlo Papp Arena in the Hungarian capital. The women's WTA Tour is scheduled to resume in Palermo, Italy on Aug. 3 but the ITF said the ongoing challenges caused by the pandemic have forced them to delay for a year. "In addition to the Laszlo Papp Arena being unavailable over the latter part of the year, there remain significant logistical and regulatory challenges that mean hosting an indoor mass gathering while guaranteeing the health and safety of all involved will not be feasible," a statement said. The same nations will contest the event next year while the playoffs that should have taken place in April will now be staged in February 2021. ITF President David Haggerty said that while it was "regrettable" he was confident that Budapest would hold a "superb" event in 2021. While 10 of the 12 qualifiers were European nations, with the U.S. and Australia completing the field, the logistics of such a large event would prove challenging, especially with nations at different stages in the pandemic. Around 60 players, plus support staff, would have assembled in Budapest for the Finals. The ITF said hosting the event without fans had not been considered a desirable option. "We believe the best way forward in order both to protect the health and safety of all involved and to best respect the integrity of the competition is to extend this year's Fed Cup into 2021, with the event returning to an annual basis the following year," Haggerty said.

Meanwhile, the Davis Cup Finals in Madrid will now take place the week commencing November 22 next year, with 18 teams due to compete. Gerard Pique, Kosmos Tennis President said : “It’s a huge disappointment for all of us that the Davis Cup Finals will not be held in 2020. We don’t know how the situation will develop in each qualified nation, or if restrictions in Spain will remain sufficiently eased, as such it is impossible to predict the situation in November and guarantee the safety of those travelling to Madrid. "This postponement has no long-term bearing on our collective ambitions for the Davis Cup. The ITF and Kosmos Tennis look forward to delivering an outstanding competition in 2021, when it is safe and feasible to do so". Haggerty added: “This is a tough decision to have to make, but delivering an international team event on this scale while guaranteeing the health and safety of all involved ultimately poses too great a risk. It is a complex undertaking and we have made the decision now to provide certainty for players, National Associations and fans. We look forward to continuing our partnership with Kosmos Tennis in order to deliver a fantastic competition next year".

Novak Djokovic has tested positive for Coronavirus : the men's world number one tennis player confirmed the diagnosis in a statement. In April, Djokovic had revealed he was an anti-vaxxer and that it could get in the way of his return to competitive tennis once the sport resumes after the Coronavirus pandemic. Djokovic has become the fourth player to test positive for Coronavirus after his "Adria Tour", which took place in the Balkans with zero social distancing. The world number one organised the tennis event which took place in Belgrade, in Serbia and Zadar, in Croatia. Fans were able to freely mingle with players, who also played basketball and danced in nightclubs. Two members of Djokovic's support staff along with players Grigor Dimitrov, Borna Coric and Victor Troicki (with his pregnant wife) have tested positive. In a statement, the Serbian said that his wife, Jelena, also tested positive for COVID-19, but his children tested negative. Defending his tournament, he said : "Everything we did in the past month, we did with a pure heart and sincere intentions. Our tournament meant to unite and share a message of solidarity and compassion throughout the region. The tour has been designed to help both established and up and coming tennis players from south-eastern Europe to gain access to some competitive tennis while the various tours are on hold due to the COVID-19 situation. It was all born with a philanthropic idea, to direct all raised funds towards people in need and it warmed my heart to see how everybody strongly responded to this". He continued : "We organised the tournament at the moment when the virus has weakened, believing that the conditions for hosting the Tour had been met. Unfortunately, this virus is still present, and it is a new reality that we are still learning to cope and live with. I am hoping things will ease with time so we can all resume lives the way they were. I am extremely sorry for each individual case of infection. I hope that it will not complicate anyone's health situation and that everyone will be fine. I will remain in self-isolation for the next 14 days, and repeat the test in five days". The last two stages of the exhibition (Banja Luka and Sarajevo) have been cancelled.

The Japan Tennis Association has today announced the decision to cancel the Rakuten Open Tennis Championships, which were due to take place from October 5-11, due to the health & safety concerns surrounding the ongoing Coronavirus crisis.The scrapping of the tournamen raises some doubts over the traditional “Asian swing”, when the ATP tour takes in several tournaments in Asia. According to a revised schedule to take account of Coronavirus, tournaments were also due to take place in the Chinese cities of Chengdu, Zhuhai, Beijing and Shanghai. Japan Open organisers said on their website it would be the first time the tournament had been cancelled since 1972. They said they considered various options, including restricting entry and holding the competition in empty stadiums, but eventually decided safety could not be guaranteed. “Given concerns about a second wave of the infection both in Japan and overseas, we came to the anguished conclusion that we had to cancel”, they said. Japan has been relatively lightly affected by the Coronavirus compared to many western countries, with just over 900 deaths from 17,000 cases. But a recent spate of cases in Tokyo has raised fears of a possible second wave. There was no indication that the WTA event scheduled for November had yet been cancelled.

The ATP, in collaboration with the WTA, ITF, USTA and the FFT, has issued a revised provisional calendar that sets a pathway for the resumption of the Tour for the first time since the suspension of professional tennis in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The WTA has announced a plan to restart the suspended season at the Palermo Ladies Open in Italy on August 3rd : in a statement, the principal organizing body of women's professional tennis released a provisional calendar for the rest of the season and added that a five-month break due to the coronavirus pandemic would come to an end, subject to approval from the Italian government.The new-look ATP Tour calendar intends to resume on August 14th with the Citi Open, the ATP 500 event in Washington, D.C., followed by the Western & Southern Open, the Cincinnati ATP Masters 1000 event, to be hosted at Flushing Meadows, in the lead up to the US Open, which begins on August 31st. The revised calendar includes the Generali Open, an ATP 250 event in Kitzbühel, which coincides with the second week of the US Open, so the top-10 singles players will not be eligible to compete in Kitzbühel unless they have played, and already lost, at the US Open. Following New York, the Mutua Madrid Open and the Internazionali BNL d' Italia, ATP Masters 1000 events on clay in Madrid and Rome, respectively, will take place ahead of the French Open, which is scheduled to start on September 27th, in Paris. The event at Roland Garros will also feature a singles qualifying draw the week prior. The calendar is subject to change and continued assessments will be made relating to health & safety, international travel policies, and governmental approval of sporting events. All events will be held under strict guidelines related to health & safety, social distancing, reduced or no fans on-site. A further update on the intended schedule beyond Roland Garros, including a possible Asia swing ahead of the European indoor swing culminating with the season-ending ATP Finals in London, is expected in mid-July. "Our objective has been to reschedule as many tournaments as possible and salvage as much of the season as we can", said Andrea Gaudenzi, ATP Chairman. "It has been a truly collaborative effort and we hope to add more events to the calendar as the situation evolves. I would like to recognise our tournaments’ efforts to operate during these challenging times, as well as our players who will be competing under different conditions". The ATP Challenger Tour will also resume from the week of 17 August, in parallel with the ITF World Tennis Tour. The ATP Rankings have been frozen since March 16th, 2020. As the situation continues to evolve on a weekly basis, a determination will be made in the coming weeks with respect to the most appropriate and fair way for the rankings to resume in parallel with the resumption of the Tour.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said that the US Open tennis tournament will be held in late August as part of the state's reopening from shutdowns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The U.S. Tennis Association had decided to go forward with its marquee event in New York City without spectators, pending approval from the state. Like many sports leagues, the professional tennis tours have been suspended since March because of the COVID-19 outbreak. The US Open is scheduled to run from August 31 to September 13. It normally is each season's fourth and final Grand Slam tournament but would be the second of 2020. “We’re ready to move forward as long as we get all the approvals we need,” USTA spokesman Chris Widmaier had said on Monday. The operational plan to hold the event amid concerns about the coronavirus includes no spectators, limited player entourages, centralised housing, increased cleaning at the tournament grounds in Flushing Meadows and testing for COVID-19. Also part of the plan : There would be no qualifying for singles. Players whose rankings would have put them in that field will get money that the USTA will pass along to the ATP and WTA tours to distribute. The Cincinnati tournament scheduled for August 16-23, which is majority owned by the USTA, will be moved to New York in place of US Open qualifying. One big question that remains, if the state gives the go-ahead: Which players would participate? Such top names as both No. 1-ranked players, Novak Djokovic and Ashleigh Barty, have expressed reservations about heading to New York. So has defending men’s champion Rafael Nadal. Already ruled out: Roger Federer, who has won five of his men’s-record 20 Grand Slam singles titles at the US Open but announced recently that he is out for the rest of the year after needing a second arthroscopic surgery on his right knee. The USTA wants to add locker rooms, including at indoor courts that housed hundreds of temporary hospital beds at the height of New York’s coronavirus outbreak, and improve air filtration in existing spaces. Also being considered: no locker-room access until just before a match. So, if anyone goes to Flushing Meadows just to train, tournament director Stacey Allaster said in an interview last month, “You come, you practice, and return to the hotel.”

Professional tennis on the ATP and WTA tours has been suspended further because of the Coronavirus pandemic. All ATP tournaments in July have been suspended, including the Hamburg Open, a third-tier 500 level event. WTA events in Bastad, Bucharest, Lausanne and Jurmala have been called off, with similar events in Palermo and Karlsruhe set to follow. The US Open, which takes place in New York at the end of August, remains pencilled in for that date. No professional tournaments have been played since the start of March, with the French Open and Wimbledon among the events called off. "Just like tennis fans, players and tournament hosts all over the world, we share in the disappointment the tour continues to be affected in this way," said ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi. "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". Wimbledon, which was due to start on 29 June, was cancelled for the first time since World War Two. French Open organisers announced their intention to play the clay-court Grand Slam, which should have started on 24 May, in late September and early October instead. In theory, it would take place after the North American hard-court season, which culminates with the US Open at Flushing Meadows. The hard-court events in the United States and Canada remain in place for now. The latest suspension is likely to run up to the WTA event in San Jose and the ATP event in Washington on 3 August, with a further decision set to be made next month. These tournaments are followed by the Rogers Cup, which is split across Montreal and Toronto, and the Cincinnati Open, events which are both categorised among the biggest outside of Grand Slams.

The WTA Premier 5 tournament in Montreal "Rogers Cup", will not be played this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, announced Tennis Canada. The tournament, reckoned as one of the key build-up events ahead of the US Open, was originally scheduled for August 7-16. Quebec government, however, announced Friday that no sporting events could be held through August 31. "As a result of the measures imposed by the Quebec government prohibiting holding events until August 31, the Rogers Cup in Montreal will postpone their event to 2021," read a WTA statement. "Our priority in the management of this crisis has always been to ensure the safety and well-being of our players, fans, volunteers, partners and employees," Montreal tournament director Eugene Lapierre said. "It is thus with a heavy heart that we received this news, but we understand that this decision was necessary," he added. Tennis Canada said the women's event will return to Montreal in August 2021, though the women's and men's Rogers Cup traditionally rotate between Toronto and Montreal.

Wimbledon has been cancelled for the first time since World War Two because of the Coronavirus pandemic. The tournament was due to be played between 29 June and 12 July. The entire grass-court season has been abandoned, and there will be no professional tennis anywhere in the world until at least 13 July. Wimbledon is the latest major summer sporting event to be called off, with Euro 2020 and the Tokyo Olympics postponed for 12 months. It follows the postponement of the French Open, which was due to begin in May but has been rescheduled to 20 September-4 October. "This is a decision that we have not taken lightly, and we have done so with the highest regard for public health and the wellbeing of all those who come together to make Wimbledon happen," said Ian Hewitt, All England Lawn Tennis Club chairman. "It has weighed heavily on our minds that the staging of the Championships has only been interrupted previously by World Wars but, following thorough and extensive consideration of all scenarios, we believe it is ultimately the right decision to cancel this year's Championships, and instead concentrate on how we can use the breadth of Wimbledon's resources to help those in our local communities and beyond. "Our thoughts are with all those who have been and continue to be affected by these unprecedented times."

The ATP and WTA tennis competitions have extended the suspension of their seasons until 7 June due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the two tour organisers announced on Wednesday. "The professional tennis season is now suspended through 7 June 2020, including the ATP Challenger Tour and ITF (International Tennis Federation) World Tennis Tour", the ATP and WTA said in a joint statement. At this time, tournaments taking place from 8 June 2020 onwards are still planning to go ahead as per the published schedule." The announcement temporarily shuts down the men's and women's European clay court season a day after the French Open was pushed back to September. It also further pushes back the restart to the tennis season as both tours were already shut down, with the ATP last week originally halting proceedings until 27 April and the WTA announcing no play until 2 May on Monday. "In these challenging times, it is more important than ever for our sport to pull together to provide as much certainty as possible to all those affected by these postponements," said ITF president David Haggerty. "We recognise the huge impact this will have, but ultimately the health and safety of players, officials and spectators has to be our primary concern". Events affected by the shut down include the combined ATP/WTA tournaments in Madrid and Rome, the WTA events in Strasbourg and Rabat and ATP events in Munich, Estoril, Geneva and Lyon.

The French Open has been postponed until September amid the Coronavirus outbreak. The second Grand Slam event of the year was scheduled to begin on 24 May at Roland Garros but has been moved to 20 September to 4 October. A French Tennis Federation statement read : “The Covid-19 health crisis affects all populations. The current confinement measures have made it impossible for us to continue with the dates originally planned.” “In order to act responsibly and protect the health of its employees, service providers and suppliers during the organisation period, the FFT has chosen the only option that will allow them to maintain the 2020 edition of the tournament while joining the fight against Covid-19.” The new start date is only one week after the scheduled finish of the US Open, which is due to take place from 24 August to 14 September.