As the Coronavirus, now dubbed COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc upon world events, the ATP and ITF have cancelled multiple events for up to six weeks.
Coronavirus, otherwise known as COVID-19, has caused cancellations all over the world. Among this list are several cancellations by the Association of Tennis Professionals. According to ESPN, The tour run by this association is set to be suspended for the next six weeks. The chairman of this association, Andrea Gaudenzi, made clear that all decisions made by the association were not taken lightly. Each and every decision is based on careful consideration and planning.
She went on to say that she recognizes that this is a tremendous loss. For the athletes, the fans, the staff who’ve poured hours of support into the event, and everyone else involved. Although the loss is regretful, the Association of Tennis Professionals believes that it’s a worthy tradeoff when considering just how deadly this virus can be. Risking the health of everyone involved is certainly not worth it.
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On April 5th, the Volvo Car Open was set to take place. However, the Women’s Tennis Association has decided to cancel the event due to COVID-19 concerns. The association also decided to cancel all events starting on the 6th. These cancellations include the events in Guadalajara, Mexico, as well as the events in Bogota, Colombia. So far there has not been a final word made on the European Clay-Court season. However, the CEO of the WTA, Steve Simon, has announced that more decisions are to be made late in the next week.
According to the International Tennis Federation, all play under their jurisdiction is to be suspended and/or cancelled until April 20th. The April 20th time mark is only temporary, as further news is bound to present itself soon. The events on April 20th are set to take place in Stuttgart, Germany. So far no cancellations have been made for this day, however, many believe cancellations are on their way.
The cancellation of large events is likely to create a ripple effect. Fans are seeing this in action as the cancellation of several lower scale events in the United States have been cancelled following announcements made by the ATF (Association of Tennis Professionals). In Houston, both the Barcelona 500 tournament and the Monte Carlo Masters 1000 tournament have been cancelled.
According to several Tennis officials, if the events in Miami and the Indian Wells were not cancelled, confusion and chaos would be very widespread. The very notion that sports like this are international events is concerning enough. The decision to close both of these events was largely due to the recently announced state of emergency.
According to multiple Tennis associations, President Donald Trump’s decision to heavily restrict travel to and from Europe made these cancellations a lot easier to make. Officials from ESPN actually went as far as to say that in a way, the President made the decision for them.
