Former world number 4 and Roland Garros Tournament Director Guy Forget thinks that players with more experience will remain on top, when the ATP Tour resumes. The former world number 4 player spoke in an interview with Mats Wilander and Justine Henis on the latest edition of Tennis edition.

“When the Tour starts again, I think that the players with more experience will still be on top. When you are a younger player, you need to put those four, five hours a day and get some of the rhythm matches. I think that Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic with little practice, they can rely on their experience and they can still can be there on the big moments. The top 3 are still playing at the top even after so many years on the tour. They have been so good last year and the first part of the season. Novak has been unbelievable. Roger is just playing his best tennis and Rafa seems like he is a junior walking out on every court everywhere in the world like he is happy to be here ”, said Forget.

Forget is confident that the tennis will resume once the coronavirus pandemic problem will be solved and the French Open will be held later this year. Wilander asked Forget whether the whole year would be cancelled.

“I am pretty confident some tournaments will happen before Roland Garros. I think that’s for the good of the game and the good of the players”.

Forget defended the decision to re-arrange Roland Garros without consulting the rest of the tour.

“I think looking back, it was a very corageous move. Because as I told our President at that time, if we do that way, we are going to get criticised because we don’t know what’s going to happen. They are going to think it’s a very selfish move. Maybe we can talk to them about it. Our President’s responsibility is to save Roland Garros at any cost, otherwise our Federation is struggling, otherwise amateur tennis is going to suffer big time. Where could we possibly have Roland Garros without hurting any Grand Slam, without hurting the Davis Cup, without hurting any Masters 1000 ? Where could we possibly place Roland Garros ? That time in autumn, as late as possible, was the time we thought that was going to be the less hurtful for everyone. When you are running a Grand Slam event, there are the pillars of the game. Wimbledon, Roland Garros, the US Open and the Australian Open, are what people follow no matter what”.

With all professional tennis tournaments suspended until at least July 31st due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many players have turned to other ways to maintain their match fitness. In the wake of the unprecedented break to the sport, various countries have created their own events to fill in the void. Although it is hard to keep track of what is going on and when.

To help solve this issue, UbiTennis has a guide to what will be occurring over the coming weeks across the world of tennis.

Hrvatski premier tennis
Location: Osijek, Croatia
Date: June 4-7

Starting this Thursday there will be a special all-Croatian tennis tournament in Osijek that will feature both current and past stars of the sport called the Hrvatski Premier Tennis Cup. One of the driving forces behind the initiative is current world No.23 Donna Vekic.

“This is a unique opportunity for all Croatian players to be in Croatia at the moment, which is why everyone was able to respond and support our idea. I am in contact with all the players and everyone can’t wait to come to Osijek. As for the format of the tournament itself, there will be one set of women’s singles, one set of men’s singles, men’s doubles, mixed doubles and the appearance of legends.” Vekic recently said at a press conference promoting the event.

The exhibition will take place over three days and be broadcasted by national network HTS. The 20-player showdown features Borna Coric, Marin Cilic, Ivan Dodig and Jana Fett. Ivo Majoli and Goran Ivanišević will also be attending the event which aims to raise money in the fight against COVID-19.

Tournament: Credit One Bank International
Location: Charleston, South Carolina
Date: June 23-28

Given the calibre of top names involved, the Charleston event is set to rival Novak Djokovic’s Adria Tour in terms of star quality. Taking place in South Carolina the field includes two reigning grand slam champions – Bianca Andreescu and Sofia Kenin. Also included in the strong 16-player field is 2016 Olympic champion Monica Puig, two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka, Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys.

Held behind closed doors, the tournament will be broadcasted by The Tennis Channel, who have agreed to broadcast more than 40 hours of action. During the matches player’s will call their own lines and receive assistance from one ball kid as well as the umpire.

The tournament takes place instead of the Volvo Open, which is one of the WTA tournaments cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It will be held between June 23-28.

List of players Players: Bianca Andreescu, Sofia Kenin, Sloane Stephens, Madison Keys, Victoria Azarenka, Amanda Anisimova, Monica Puig, Jennifer Brady, Danielle Collins, Emma Navarro, Alison Riske, Shelby Rogers, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Eugenie Bouchard, Leylah Fernandez, Ajla Tomljanovic

Schroders Battle Of The Brits
Location: Location: National Tennis Center in Roehampton
Date: June 23-28

London is set to be where three-time grand slam champion Andy Murray will make his competitive return to tennis. Murray hasn’t played since the Davis Cup Finals last November due to pelvic bruising.

The Schroders Battle Of The Brits has been organised by Murray’s brother Jamie and will take place over six days in Roehampton at the National Tennis Center (NTC). Besides showcasing some of Britain’s top players, organisers hope to raise at least £100,000 for the NHS. The line-up could change nearer the time, but at present joining Murray in the event will be Dan Evans, Kyle Edmund, Cameron Norrie, Jay Clarke, Liam Broady, Jack Draper and James Ward.

It is also important to note that the tournament have already secured a top broadcast deal. In the UK it will be shown exclusively by Amazon Prime, who already has the British rights to all ATP and WTA events. Furthermore Eurosport has picked up the rights to broadcast it internationally. Although it is unclear how much coverage they will provide.

The Adria Tour
Location: various Balkan countries
Date: June and July

Founded and organised by world No.1 Djokovic, the Adria Tour is set to take place in various countries across the Balkan region. The tour already has a stunning line-up with three current top 10 players already committing to play. Joining Djokovic will be Dominic Thiem and Alexander Zverev. Furthermore, Marin Cilic, Borna Coric and Grigor Dimitrov are set to feature. Not all of these players will be playing in every country where the Tour is taking place.

The duration of the event will be between June 13th and July 5th. According to the official Adria Tour Instagram account the schedule will be as follows:-

• Belgrade, Serbia – 13-14 June
• Zadar, Croatia – 20-21 June
• Montenegro – 27-28 June
• Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina – 3-4 July
• Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina – July 5th (exhibition match between Djokovic and Damir Dzumhur).

The Ultimate Tennis Showdown
Location: Mouratoglou Tennis Academy, Boit, France
Date: June 13 to July 11

In France prestigious tennis coach Patrick Mouratoglou will be hosting his own series of matches over a five-week period. Starting from June 13th, the Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS) will feature a total of 50 exhibition matches taking place. It will kick off with a clash between David Goffin and Alexei Popyrin, whose father is the co-organiser. Other names included in the event are Benoit Paire and Lucas Pouille. Fabio Fognini was also down to play, but has since pulled out after recently undergoing ankle surgery.

All matches are set to be streamed live with the broadcaster yet to be confirmed. Prize money will also be up for grabs.

The Progress Women’s Championships
Location: Location: National Tennis Center in Roehampton
Date: July 14-18

Not to forget the ladies, the UK will also have a female equivalent of the Battle of the Brits. It will take place between July 14-18 at the NTC but will be without national No.1 Johanna Konta, according to BBC Sport. On the other hand, Harriet Dart and Naomi Broady are two names confirmed to play.

16 players will be split into two groups. There will be a round-robin format followed by knockout stages. Eight doubles teams are also set to take part with a total prize money pool of £30,000 available.

The British Tour
Location: National Tennis Center in Roehampton
Date: Throughout July

The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) has announced the return of the British Tour during July. A total of four events will take place over as many weeks. Each tournament will have a field of 32 players with 16 men and 16 women. Participants are eligible to take part based on their current ranking providing they are a member of the LTA. All four tournaments will be held over three days (Friday-Sunday) at the National Tennis Center in Roehampton. There will also be doubles action with eight teams featuring in a FAST4 format over one day each week.

Both Murray and Konta are among the names set to take part in the Tour. Weeks two and four will be classed a premier-level with a prize money pool of £16,000, including £2260 for the winners.

The entry list is yet to be confirmed.

Bett1 Aces
Location: Berlin, Germany
Date: July 13-16

The German capital of Berlin will host a six-player men’s and women’s tournament at two different locations. The Bett1 Aces Exhibition has been organised by the same company who is responsible for the Mercedes Cup is Stuttgart. The first will take part on the grass at the Steff Graf Stadium of the LTTC. Meanwhile, the second will be held on a hard court at Berlin’s former International airport.

So far eight out of the 12 players have been confirmed for the tournaments with all of them being ranked inside the top 100. On the women’s side there will be Elina Svitolina, Kiki Bertens, Andrea Petkovic and Julia Goerges. On the men’s side there will be Nick Kyrgios, Jannik Sinner, Alexander Zverev and Dominic Thiem.

For both events there will be a total prize money pool of €200,000 and matches will be broadcasted live. Although it is unclear on what network yet.

Moscow Calling Tennis Premier League.’
Location: Khimki, Moscow Oblast
Date: TBC

Details about this event are still emerging and the exact date is yet to be finalised with organiser Alexander Ostrovsky aiming for the second half of this month. In a recent interview with Kommersant.ru, Ostrovsky has said both Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev has signed on to his event. As for the women’s he has reached out to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Anastasia Potapova.

“The regulations for both men and women will be the same. We will divide eight athletes into two groups, from where the two best players will enter the second stage. Next – again a round robin tournament, already with the participation of four people. Following its results, the semifinalists will be determined,” he said.
“Each match will consist of two sets and, if required, a super tie-break. However, the rules can be adjusted in the regulations taking into account the recommendations of the channel, which has expressed its interest in the tournament.”

When is certain about the exhibition is that it will be called the ‘Moscow Calling Tennis Premier League.’

Thiem’s Seven
Location: Kitzbühel, Austria
Date: July 7-11

In Austria Dominic Thiem is set to front a tournament during July. It is being organised by Herbert Günther and Markus Bodner, who are also responsible for the Generali Open. Invites have already been issued by Thiem with Gael Monfils being the first to commit.

“Together with Wolfgang and Dominic, who is in contact with the players, we will invite seven other top European players to Kitzbühel for a week. In addition to top-class matches and appropriate competition practice, the stars can spend a wonderful time with their families in Kitzbühel,” a press release from Günther and Bodner explains.

There are currently few details concerning the event or how it will be broadcasted to the public. However, it has been confirmed that an impressive prize money pool of € 300,000 will be available with €100,000 going to the winner alone.

Women-Only Charity Tournament
Location: Barcelona
Date: TBC

In May UbiTennis spoke with tennis coach Carlos Martinez about his plans for a 32-player tournament being held at the Club de Tenis Mollet. Martinez, who is the current mentor of Daria Kasatkina, is aiming to hold the event between July and August with an exact date to be confirmed.

“The dates of the tournament will depend on when the tour will start but it will more or less be between the end of July and end August,” Martinez told Ubitennis.
“The format is the same as the normal situation with tournaments, but I will design four groups with eight players and they will all play against each other in the group. Then the first two players of each group will go straight to the main draw. Then they will play quarters, semis and final.”

Those interested in playing include Kasatkina, Carla Suarez Navarro, Kristina Mladenovic, Marie Bouzkova and Sara Errani. Other players have also expressed interest but their participation depends on travel restrictions. There will be no prize money available with funds instead going to local hospitals located near the venue.

The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is continuing to work tirelessly to put in place a health protocol that would allow the US Open to start on 24 August as planned. But another alleged initiative by the USTA, reported by the New York Times reporter Christopher Clarey, is planning another shake-up of the traditional North American tennis summer line-up: some sources internal to the US Tennis Federation have confirmed the existence of a plan to relocate the Western&Southern Open from the Lindner Family Tennis Center of Mason, Ohio to the National Tennis Center at Flushing Meadows, New York City.

The Cincinnati area hosts every year a combined tournament that sees an ATP Masters 1000 tournament being played at the same time as a WTA Premier 5. The USTA has informed both the ATP and the WTA of the existence of a project that would see the event being played in its current calendar slot (17-23 August) but at the same location as the US Open. This would see the pro circuit “settle down” in the New York City area for a 4-week period that would include the Western&Southern Open and the US Open, which would start as scheduled on 24 August with the singles qualifying draws.

The idea behind this proposal is to create some economies of scope and scale as the same safety protocols being prepared for the US Open would not have to be replicated in Ohio a couple of weeks earlier, and players and their entourages would be able to remain at the same location for the entire duration of their stay in the United States, thus eliminating the risks connected to internal flights and getting in touch with more people as they change cities and accommodation.

The ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Cincinnati is owned by the USTA itself, while the WTA Premier 5 is owned by the sports management company Octagon.

As far as the US Open is concerned, there will be no junior or legend competitions, and the cancellation of the wheelchair tennis draws are still under consideration. It appears that the USTA has accepted the introduction of coaching, similarly to what happens in the WTA Tour, in order to increase the entertainment value of a product for which the ESPN is paying 75 million dollars a year until 2025 and that some sources seem to believe is not currently delivering as expected.

At the moment all professional tennis tournaments have been cancelled until the end of July, and the ATP Tour is expected to resume on 3 August with the ATP 500 Citi Open in Washington, DC, while the WTA Tour sees the Mubadala Silicon Valley Open in San Jose, California, as its first event on the schedule. On the following week, the tours were supposed to move to Canada for the annual appointment with the Rogers Cup, however the WTA version in Montreal has already been canceled by the organizers due to a decision by the Province of Quebec (where Montreal is located) to prohibit all mass events until the end of August. However, the ATP Masters 1000 version of the Rogers Cup, scheduled to take place in Toronto, is still officially on the calendar, and the organizer Tennis Canada has confirmed that no decisions pertaining its cancellation will be made before 15 June when both ATP and WTA will update their respective schedules.