The immediate future of the tennis tour this season has been thrown into doubt following a series of new developments that have been made in relation to the Coronavirus outbreak, according to multiple sources.
Earlier this week the sport suffered its biggest blow yet with the suspension of the prestigious BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. A combined two-week tournament that sold more than 475,000 tickets in 2019. The move has cast doubt on the upcoming Miami Open, who recently published a statement that the tournament is ‘moving forward as scheduled.’ However, this positive outlook has taken a turn for the worst.
Mike Dickson from The Daily Mail has reported today that Miami will officially be cancelled based on what he described as ‘usually reliable sources.’ Dickson is a well-known tennis journalist and was issued with the Ron Bookman Media Excellence Award from the ATP in 2016.
“According to usually reliable sources an announcement is brewing to the effect that the Miami Open is officially off.” He wrote on Twitter.
Meanwhile, another source to report the cancellation of Miami is a parent of one of the players. Fabio Fognini’s father has written on Twitter that his son has told him the event has been cancelled. Since then, Sky Sport Italia has also reported the news.
Although there is no official announcement, there are strong indications that this will be the case. Music festivals Ultra and Coachella have already been cancelled or suspended. Meanwhile, in another development the US government is looking into placing travel restrictions on certain European countries.
Suspension of play?
Besides Miami, it has been confirmed that players and officials are now seriously looking into whether there should be a suspension of the entire ATP and WTA tours. Something that would have a massive financial impact on players, especially those lower in the rankings.
Russel Fuller from the BBC has confirmed that player meetings are taking place on Wednesday to discuss the crises. According to Fuller (although Ubitennis can’t confirm this) there could be a suspension of six weeks. Effectively cancelling or suspending prestigious tournaments in Charleston and Monte Carlo. Meanwhile, the Barcelona Open would be 50/50 if this was implemented.
Stand by for a possible six week suspension of both the ATP and WTA Tours – the player councils are meeting today, and that seems to be the direction of travel (for the players, at least)
— Russell Fuller (@russellcfuller) March 11, 2020
There are also reports that the discussions could ponder a suspension of up to three months. Such an enormous decision would effectively wipe away the entire clay-court swing off the calendar and threaten the French Open. However, this is just speculation. Player meetings are renowned for their secrecy and few details are known until an official statement is released.
In other developments, the Coronavirus threat is continuing to cause nightmares around the world. At a Challenger event in Nur-Sultan, a group of players were forced to withdraw. The French and German players were told they were required to leave the city by midnight or go into quarantine. This was confirmed by Florian Heer, who runs the website Tennis Tour-talk. Those who withdrew were Yannick Maden (Germany), Enzo Couacaud (France) and Mats Moraing (Germany).
Meanwhile, the WTA Czech Open is unlikely to go ahead based on newspaper reports in the country, Monte Carlo has vowed to reimburse ticket holders if their event is played behind closed doors and Barcelona has insisted that no decision has been made about their measures yet. All three of these tournaments are set to take place in April, but that could change if a suspension is put into place.
Finally, the latest Challenger event to be officially cancelled is the Braga Open in Portugal. A very early decision from the Portuguese Tennis Federation (FPT) with the event not scheduled to start until May 11th.
SEE ALSO: Fed Cup Finals And Play-Offs Postponed Due to Coronavirus Concerns
