Tennis: Women’s Tour continues with 2020 schedule amid coronavirus concerns
Tennis
Mumbai (India), March 3, 2020 (Reuters/NAN) The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) said it hopes to forge ahead with the remainder of the 2020 world tour in spite of widespread concerns over the coronavirus outbreak.
The epidemic has seen a host of sports events cancelled or postponed around the globe.
The virus outbreak has killed more than 3,000 people worldwide and infected almost 89,000, most of them in China.
Almost all sports have been impacted by the escalation, in precautions taken against the spread of the virus since the first outbreak in China in December.
Some qualifying events for the Olympic Games in Tokyo later this year have also been disrupted.
For a sport which needs players to fly around the world every week and play in front of stadiums filled with people, tennis could be hard hit.
This will be as countries take measures to contain the virus.
China is a major location in WTA’s calendar and the Tour has already cancelled two 125K series tournaments in China, which were scheduled to be held in April.
“We are proceeding with the remainder of the 2020 WTA Tour season as planned. But we will be prepared to make any changes, if deemed necessary in due time,” the WTA told Reuters.
The April 27 to May 3 Kunming Open in China’s Anning became the second tournament to be cancelled after the Xi’an Open which was also scheduled for April.
Zhengzhou, Jiangxi, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Beijing, Tianjin and Zhuhai are all set to host WTA events in September and October during the tour’s Asian swing.
The top eight women’s singles players and the same number of doubles teams are then scheduled to assemble in Shenzen in November to compete in the season-ending WTA Finals.
It is considered only below the four Grand Slams in terms of prestige and glamour.
The WTA said it is regularly communicating with health experts, local governments and travel agencies and passing that information to the players.
“There isn’t anything more important than protecting the health of our players, WTA and event staff, and fans who attend WTA events.
“We are working closely with our tournaments so that they are in the best position to provide for health and safety precautions in their venues,” the association said.
The inaugural version of the Fed Cup Finals will also see the top women’s players of the world assemble in Budapest for the 18 million dollars 12-nation event.
It is scheduled to hold from April 14 to April 19.
The International Tennis Federation (ITF), custodians of the Fed Cup, said they are in constant consultation with independent medical and travel advisers.
They are also prepared to take any necessary measures based on expert advice.
The men’s ATP Tour also witnessed a number of its Challenger Tour events cancelled in China in March and April.
The final of a Challenger event at Bergamo in Italy was also cancelled in February.
“We are in regular contact with our player and tournament members regarding the latest precautionary health measures and guidelines, as well as any travel advisories.
“We will continue to closely monitor the situation as it evolves,” the ATP Tour told Reuters. (Reuters/NAN)
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(Edited by Joseph Edeh and Olawale Alabi)