TENNIS: There will therefore only be one major tennis tournament on clay before Roland-Garros, if all goes well.
Another blow for the circuit! Postponed from May, very hypothetical since the new outbreak of the coronavirus Covid-19 epidemic in Spain, the Madrid tennis tournament (September 12th to 20th) was officially cancelled on Tuesday. A very bad signal for the delicate US Open – Roland-Garros sequence .
The pandemic got the better of one of the major events of the season on clay, the meeting in Madrid, scheduled in the wake of the US Open (August 31st-September 13th) and which was to serve as a springboard for a Roland- Garros also postponed to the fall (September 27th-October 11th) instead of June usually.
ATP & @WTA statement on cancellation of 2020 @MutuaMadridOpen.
— ATP Tour (@atptour) August 4, 2020
The resumption of the season still disrupted
“After examining the situation for months, the organizers of the Mutua Madrid Open were forced to cancel the tournament because of the difficult economic situation that the coronavirus Covid-19 continues to cause at all levels”, justify the organizers in a communicated.
This announcement was expected and is in line with the recommendation of the government of the Madrid region, which had asked that “the tournament not take place because of the current evolution of Covid-19” in Spain, according to a press release from the organisers published last Saturday. The reappearance in the country of epidemic has led the organisers to doubt the holding of the tournament “without health complications which would affect players, public and employees”, they regretted.
#Tenis : Después de varios días de dudas y especulaciones, la Atp y Wta anunciaron la cancelación del Másters 1000 de Madrid pic.twitter.com/7qjbiBeljE
— Pasión Deportiva (@PDeportivafm) August 4, 2020
For now, only Rome before Roland-Garros on clay
Like other leading players, Rafael Nadal, world No.2 five times titled in Madrid (2005, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2017), had announced his participation in the tournament. For the Spaniard and the other clay-court specialists, there is therefore only the Masters 1000 in Rome (September 20 to 27), to hope to find some benchmarks before the French Open… if these competitions are maintained.
The ATP (male) and WTA (female) circuits “are studying changes to the 2020 provisional calendars with regard to events following the US Open”, the two circuits also specify in a press release published after the announcement of the cancellation of the Madrid tournament. Because the pandemic does not seem to finish shaking the season. Already cut off from many tournaments including that of Wimbledon, the ATP calendar must now resume on August 22 with the Cincinnati Tournament.
