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Ros Satar

Tennis | ATP & WTA shut down clay court season, freeze rankings and dig at Roland Garros decision

Ros Satar
Tennis

By Ros Satar

  • A joint statement from the ATP and WTA tour confirms there will be no clay court season.
  • The tour rankings will be frozen at this point
  • The statement makes a pointed dig at the decision of Roland Garros to reschedule the second Slam of the year
LONDON, UK – The ATP and WTA have released a joint statement suspending both tours until the start of the grass court season with rankings being frozen.

 

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No ATP & WTA tournaments until the grass court season

The ATP and WTA tours released a joint statement suspending the tours until the start of the grass court season on 8 June. Originally the ATP had planned to return with the clay court events in Munich and Estoril, and the WTA would have returned in time for the WTA Premier tournaments in Madrid and Rome.

All of these tournaments have now been suspended until 7 June, including ATP Challenger and ITF World Tennis Tour season and all ATP and WTA ranking points will be frozen.

 

ATP & WTA Statement in full

After careful consideration, and due to the continuing outbreak of COVID-19, all ATP and WTA tournaments in the Spring clay court swing will not be held as scheduled. This includes the combined ATP/WTA tournaments in Madrid and Rome, along with the WTA events in Strasbourg and Rabat and ATP events in Munich, Estoril, Geneva and Lyon.

The professional tennis season is now suspended through June 7, 2020, including the ATP Challenger Tour and ITF World Tennis Tour. At this time, tournaments taking place from June 8, 2020 onwards are still planning to go ahead as per the published schedule.

In parallel, the FedEx ATP Rankings and WTA Rankings will be frozen throughout this period and until further notice.

The challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic to professional tennis demand greater collaboration than ever from everyone in the tennis community, in order for the sport to move forward collectively in the best interest of players, tournaments and fans.

We are assessing all options related to preserving and maximising the tennis calendar based on various return dates for the Tours, which remains an unknown at this time. We are committed to working through these matters with our player and tournament members, and the other governing bodies, in the weeks and months ahead.

Now is not a time to act unilaterally, but in unison. All decisions related to the impact of the coronavirus require appropriate consultation and review with the stakeholders in the game, a view that is shared by ATP, WTA, ITF, AELTC, Tennis Australia, and USTA.

 

Roland Garros fall-out

READ MORE | Tennis | Roland Garros 2020 | Tournament moved to after US Open as a result of coronavirus pandemic

READ MORE | Tennis | Roland Garros 2020 | Laver Cup and US Open respond to surprise reschedule

It is worth noting that the final statement indicates that the decision by Roland Garros to claim the post-US Open weeks has not been met with approval by any the other stakeholders and it remains to be seen what pressure (if any) the ATP and WTA can put on the French Tennis Federation (FFT) in term of the tournaments that will be affected during this time.

The first ATP tournament in June will Stuttgart and Den Bosch, and for the WTA – Den Bosch and Nottingham.

 

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