The resumption of the tennis season promises to be complicated. For the men’s circuit (ATP), stopped since early March because of the Covid-19 pandemic, it will not take place in Washington as planned. The organizers of the Citi Open, which was scheduled to start on August 13, announced its cancellation on Tuesday, July 21. “In view of the persistent uncertainties affecting the planning of events, the decision was taken to cancel the tournament”, the organizers said in a statement.
They notably noted the persistence and scale of the Covid-19 epidemic in the United States (more than 140,000 deaths for more than 3.8 million reported cases), as well as the impossibility for some players to travel to the country (borders are closed with the European Union for example).
“There are too many unresolved external issues, including restrictions on international travel and the worrying evolution of the health and security environment, which forced us to make this decision, out of fairness to the players.”, said Mark Ein, tournament director, an ATP 500.
The US Open in question
The question now arises of maintaining the rest of the North American tour: the Masters 1000 from Cincinnati, which had been relocated to New York and is due to start on August 22, then the US Open, from August 31 to September 13. .
Regarding the latter, which must be the first Grand Slam tournament, the American federation has indicated that it does not intend to give up organizing the event, which is scheduled without qualifications, behind closed doors and with the in place of strict sanitary conditions.
The governor of the state has also given the green light; and while New York City has canceled all major events until the end of September, it hasn’t touched the US Open. A number of players, especially Europeans, like Rafael Nadal, have however expressed their reluctance to come to New York.
The ATP said on July 13 that it was giving itself until the end of the month to decide whether or not to cancel the American tour.
