LONDON: The ATP Tour and International Tennis Federation (ITF) have extended their suspensions of professional tennis until July 31 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they said on Friday.
The ATP and WTA had announced in April that they were suspending all tournaments until July 13, with the WTA saying on Friday that it will next month provide an update on events scheduled for the latter half of July.
ATP events in Hamburg, Bastad, Newport, Los Cabos, Gstaad, Umag, Atlanta and Kitzbuhel will not go ahead as scheduled while WTA events in Bastad, Lausanne, Bucharest and Jurmala scheduled for July will not be held.
“Due to continued uncertainties surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, we regret to announce our decision to extend the suspension of the Tour,” ATP Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi said in a statement.
“We continue to assess all of our options in an effort to resume the Tour as soon as it is safe to do so, including the feasibility of rescheduling events later in the season.
“As ever, the health and well-being of the tennis community and wider public remains our top priority in every decision we make.”
The WTA said in a statement that it would make a decision on events in Karlsruhe and Palermo with announcements to the revised calendar to be made in June.
The ITF said all events – including ITF Juniors, Seniors, UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour, Beach Tennis Tour and the men’s and women’s ITF World Tennis Tour – would be suspended.
However, the ITF’s suspension will not affect any of the Grand Slams with Wimbledon having already cancelled this year’s championships. The US Open is scheduled to begin on Aug. 24 while the postponed French Open is now due to start on Sept 20. – Reuters
