'Precautionary Health Measures' To Be Implemented At Key Tennis Tournaments - UBITENNIS
Connect with us

Latest news

‘Precautionary Health Measures’ To Be Implemented At Key Tennis Tournaments

Player’s will not be accepting pens to sign autographs as part of a series of measures aimed at minimising the threat from Coronavirus.

Published

on

Indian Wells 2019 (foto via Twitter, @BNPPARIBASOPEN)

The ATP and WTA have announced a series of measures that will be taken to minimise the threat of Coronavirus (aka Covid-19) at key tournaments over the coming weeks.

 

In a statement issued just two days before the start of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, a series of new rules will be implemented on both the men’s and women’s tour. They range from the player’s not holding hands with mascots when walking onto the court to them not accepting items to sign as a precaution. The measures have been implemented following advice issued from medical experts.

“The health and safety of our players, fans, staff and tournament personnel is paramount and, as the outbreak of COVID-19 continues, these are common sense precautions for us to take,” said the ATP and WTA in a joint statement. “We continue to monitor this closely on a daily basis, working with our players and tournaments, as well as public health authorities as the situation evolves globally.”

Besides Indian Wells, the policy will also be in force at the Miami Open and WTA Charleston Open to begin with. Although the measures are set to apply to all events that fall under the management of the two governing bodies.

The Covid-19 outbreak has already resulted in a series of tournaments in Asia being cancelled as well as a Challenger final in Italy. Meanwhile, three Davis Cup ties took place behind closed doors this weekend. They were Italy against South Korea, Japan against Ecuador and Hong Kong against Poland. The Davis Cup is run by the International Tennis Federation, who outlined their approach to the virus earlier this week to UbiTennis.

“The precautionary health measures will be implemented across all WTA events and ATP Tour and ATP Challenger Tour events through the 2020 spring season, with a further review to follow.” The statement said.

Tournaments seeking calm

In the wake of the Covid-19 threat, which there has been more than 100,000 cases of worldwide, organizers at Indian Wells have taken the unusual step of offering refunds to fans who no longer want to attend out of concern. The tournament is located in California, which has declared a ‘state of emergency’ due to an outbreak in the region. Organizers have also implemented 250 hand-sanitizing stations.

“Further actions are being considered and evaluated on a daily basis in order to continue to ensure the safety of everyone associated with the event,” A statement from the tournament reads.

It isn’t just the events that are taking place in the immediate future that are under doubt. The French Open isn’t set to get underway until the last week of May. It is understood that the grand slam is studying ‘studying different scenarios’ but the French Tennis Federation currently has no intention of cancelling the tournament.

“We are on a 13-hectare site which allows the flow of spectators to be organised very differently from football stadiums,” French Tennis Federation (FFT) director general Jean-Francois Vilotte told AFP News.

Last year’s French Open attracted a record attendance of 520,000 people over two weeks. Some of the ideas they are pondering for this year’s tournament include issuing “gel and mask kits” and cancelling tickets for those coming from ‘affected areas.’

Full list of rules implemented by the ATP and WTA

  • Players and mascots will not hold hands when walking out on court
  • Ball kids will be provided with gloves to wear on court
  • Ball kids will not handle player towels during matches
  • Ball kids will not handle player drinks during matches
  • Players will be instructed to not distribute used towels, headbands, shirts, sweatbands, etc. to fans following matches or practice
  • Players will not accept pens, tennis balls or other items to hold for autograph signing

Latest news

Varvara Gracheva upsets Ons Jabeur in Miami

Published

on

Qualifier Varvara Gracheva clinched her first top 5 win against two-time Grand Slam champion Ons Jabeur by the scoreline of 6-2 6-2 in 1 hour and 11 minutes in the second round at the Miami Open. 

 

Gracheva played her first career WTA singles final at Austin last March reaching her career-high of world number 54. Earlier this year she beat world number 8 Daria Kasatkina at the Australian Open and at Indian Wells. 

“The plan was to be as stable as possible, to make her work as much points as possible, and of course wait for comfortable ones to attack”, said Gracheva. 

Jabeur is coming back from a knee injury and played just three matches since the Australian Open. She had to miss the Middle East swing last February. The Tunisian player lost to Marketa Vondrousova on her return in Indian Wells. 

Jabeur received medical visits from the medical trainer during the second set. She earned her only break after the medical time-out at 3-0, but Gracheva broke back for 4-2. 

Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova cruised past Adelaide 1 finalist Linda Noskova 6-3 6-0 in just 67 minutes. Kvitova converted six of her ten break points. 

Noskova earned an early break in the first game, but Kvitova broke straight back to draw level to 1-1. Kvitova closed out the first set with a second break in the ninth game. Kvitova took a bagel win in the second set with three breaks of serve. 

Kvitova set up a third-round match against Donna Vekic. The Czech player leads 3-1 in her four previous head-to-head matches against Vekic. 

“It’s always challenging to play against somebody who is young and coming up, she has had great results. I managed to have a good level of my tennis. I tried to play aggressive, which was really the key. She can play aggressive and fast too, so I knew I would have to be the first player that’s going to push her a little bit”, said Kvitova. 

Continue Reading

Latest news

Taro Daniel upsets Alexander Zverev to reach the third round at the Miami Open

Published

on

World number 97 Taro Daniel upset two-time Nitto ATP Finals champion Alexander Zverev 6-0 6-4 to reach the third round at the Miami Open. 

 

Zverev only scored six points in three of his service games in the opening set, where Daniel earned three breaks of serve. 

Daniel broke serve in the fifth game of the second set to take a 3-2 lead. Zverev did not earn a break point throughout the match. 

Daniel won just one tournament main draw match through the first two months of the 2023 season, has won six of the past eight ATP Tour matches and all four qualifying matches. 

Daniel had already beaten former top 10 player and 2021 Wimbledon Matteo Berrettini en route to the third round at Indian Wells before losing to Cameron Norrie in three sets. The Japanese player also beat Casper Ruud in the Round of 16 before losing to Alex De Minaur in the quarter final in Acapulco.

Daniel set up a third round match against Emil Ruusuvuori.

The Japanese player has improved his win-loss record to 8-4 this season. 

“In the first set he was struggling and I just did not want to let him get his rhythm back. Sometimes it’s a matter of letting them keep playing badly. It’s a little bit of dirty fight. Sometimes you don’t know why things turn around and you have success. You keep rolling and it just happens. My plan is to keep accumulating more and more of these wins consistently”, said Daniel. 

Zverev, who is on a come-back trail from a serious injury at last year’s Roland Garros, reached the Dubai semifinal before losing to Andrey Rublev  6-3 7-6 (11-9) and lost to Danil Medvedev 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 in three sets at Indian Wells. 

Holger Rune saved the only break point he faced in his 6-3 7-5 win over Marton Fucsovics. 

Rune broke twice in the third game of the first set. The Dane earned his second break in the ninth game to win the opening set 6-3, as Fucsovics committed a double fault on set point. He rushed the net frequently in the first set and hit volleys. 

Rune hit a few inside-out forehands and earned the decisive break in the final game of the match, as Fucsovics hit a volley winner on the match point. Fucsovics was not able to convert his only break point of the match. 

Continue Reading

Latest news

Jannik Sinner beats Laslo Djere to beat reach the third round at the Miami Open

Published

on

Jannik Sinner made a winning start to his Miami Open with a 6-4 6-2 win over world number 58 Laslo Djere after 88 minutes on Court Butch Bucholz  to reach the third round at the Hard Rock Stadium. Sinner won his 17th match this season. 

 

Sinner won six consecutive games from 3-4 down to build up a 6-4 3-0 lead and the final three games from 3-2 to close out the second set. 

Sinner earned his first break point at deuce in the second game of the first set. Djere broke in the seventh game to take a 4-3 lead, but Sinner pulled back on serve to draw level to 4-4. Sinner closed out the first set 6-4 with his second break in the 10thgame. 

Sinner converted his fourth break point in the second game to open up a 3-0 lead. Djere broke back in the fifth game for 2-3. Sinner earned two consecutive breaks in the sixth and eighth games to close out the second set 6-2. Sinner finished runner-up to Hubert Hurkacz in the Miami final in 2021 and reached the quarter final in last year’s edition

Sinner converted 5 of his 10 break points to improve his seasonal record against top 50 opponents to 13-0. 

Sinner and Djere are 2-2 split in their four head-to-head matches. Sinner won his previous meeting on hard court in Indian Wells 2022. 

Sinner set up a third round match against Grigor Dimitrov, who came back from one set down to beat Jan Lennard Struff 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-4. 

Struff earned his first break in in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead and saved two break points in both the sixth and tenth games to win the first set 6-4. 

The second set went on serve en route to the tie-break. Dimitrov won four consecutive points from 3-5 down to clinch the tie-break 7-5. 

Dimitrov claimed the third set 6-4 with his only break in the fifth game. 

Carlos Alcaraz eased past Facundo Bagnis 6-0 6-2 in just 65 munues to continue his quest for the Sunshine Double after winning the Indian Wells title. 

Alcaraz is bidding to become the youngest player to win the Sunshine Double with his second consecutive title in Miami. 

Alcaraz will face either Maxime Cressy or Dusan Lajovic. 

“I knew that I needed to be focused for my first match. To start a new tournament is never easy. I have to be ready to get used to these new conditions, but I was really focused on the match from the beginning, and I am happy with the way that I played. I try to improve every day”, said Alcaraz. 

Andrey Rublev beat JJ Wolf 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 to reach the third round. Rublev dropped his serve in the first game, but he broke back in the 10th game to draw level to 5-5. 

Rublev earned an immediate mini-break to open up a 2-0 lead. Wolf pulled one break back to draw level to 2-2. Rublev won four consecutive points to build up a 6-2. Wolf saved the first set point, but Rublev closed out the tie-break with his fourth mini-break. 

Rublev saved all five break points he faced in the second set and earned his decisive break in the seventh game to clinch the second set 6-4 improving his win -loss record to 12-7 this season. 

Rublev set up a third round match against either Miomir Kecmanovic or Ugo Humbert. 

Rublev has won 12 ATP titles, including five ATP 500 trophies, but he is still chasing his first Masters 1000 title. 

“It’s a great feeling, because I did not know what to expect and it was my first match here. I did not much time to adapt. I know he is dangerous, that he can play really well and really aggressive. As soon as we started to play I was losing, so it was not easy. At the end I was happy that I able to keep calm inside, and I was just waiting for my moment in the first set. As soon as I had the moment I was able to make it, and then I started to play a play better and I started to feel more confident”, said Rublev. 

Taylor Fritz eased past Emilio Nava 6-4 6-1. Fritz reeled off six consecutive points from 4-4 in the first set to build up a 6-4 3-0 lead. Nava had beaten former Miami champion John Isner in the opening round to clinch his second ATP Tour win.

Nava earned an early break in the opening game. Fritz pulled back on serve in the second game. Fritz sealed the first set 6-4 with his second break in the 10th game. The US player broke twice in the second and fourth games to close out the second set 6-1. 

“Nava was basically going either clean winner or miss. It didn’t matter what shot I hit, so I felt like I just had to put as many balls in the court as possible and just hope that later on in the set, applying pressure at 5-4 up or if it were to go to 6-5, that he would not be able to just keep hitting winners”, said Fritz. 

Continue Reading
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

Trending