After four months of speculation the outlook of what professional tennis will look like during the remainder of this year was announced within an hour.
It started specifically at 15:00 UK time when the United States Tennis Association decided to broadcast an hour-long online press conference concerning the US Open. Which was given the go ahead yesterday by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. As UTSA CEO Mike Dowse and others spoke, the ATP and WTA decided that it would be a good time to publish their restructured 2020 schedules. Followed by the International Tennis Federation doing the same. On top of that, tournaments then issued their own press releases, including the French Open and their plans. Triggering an information overload for many.
The decision to publish all the information at once perhaps illustrates the complexity of tennis, which is governed by seven separate bodies – ATP, WTA, ITF and each of the Grand Slams. But now the information is out in the open, some aspects are still not crystal clear.
In North America the USTA is confident of making this year’s US Open a success amid the unfamiliar circumstances they are in. Even though their Net Income will be down by as much as 80% compared to 12 months ago. Nevertheless, with the help of their reserves and the relocation of the Cincinnati event to New York, organizers still believe hosting the event is financially viable.
“It’s the right decision for tennis,” said USTA chief executive officer Dowse. “Our fans told us unequivocally they’re excited to see the best players in the world.”
There are still doubts about who may choose to skip New York altogether due to concerns over the COVID-19 restrictions they have in place. Novak Djokovic has previously said he is considering an option where he focuses solely on the European clay-court swing. Meanwhile, Simona Halep is also undecided.
“Given the conditions outlined in the US Open this morning, as of today I do not currently plan to play in NYC,” Halep said in a press release issued to Christopher Clarey from The New York Times.
“However, as we know, this situation is fluid and the conditions may change and improve before the entry deadline in July.’
“I would like to underline that my decision is not set in stone.” She added.
The USTA have previously stated that it is up to players if they want to play at their premier event, but do they have an alternative option? On the men’s tour Kitzburl takes place during the second week of the US Open. Therefore, if somebody like Djokovic would stay in Europe, he could play there. However, this will not be the case.
In a somewhat unexpected decision, the ATP has said that all top-10 players will be ineligible to play in Austria unless they take part in the US Open. A move that somehow contradicts the motion of respecting a player’s right to play at the grand slam or not. The WTA haven’t said if this will also be the case for the Istanbul Open, which takes place during the same week as Kitzbuhel.
It is clear that emotions are high under the current circumstances. As highlighted by Nick Kyrgios and his response to a tweet from the ATP where he describes CEO Andrea Gaudenzi as a ‘potato.’ That comment isn’t as unusual as it sounds, he also called an umpire of one his matches last year the same word.
“Cheers mate, you’ve really looked after the players during this time. Seriously f**k me, how about you have a collaborative effort with us, potato,” he wrote.
Travelling restrictions
World No.2 Rafael Nadal had previously said the Tour shouldn’t go ahead unless everybody is able to freely travel. Something that isn’t the case at present. Ivan Tricario is the editor of ubitennis.es and is based in Argentina. In his country journalists can’t travel internationally until September 13th when their border will potentially reopen. It is even more complicated for the players.
“There are problems for Argentine tennis players to go to the US Open. No one knows how they will do it,” he said via email. “There are private flights but they are very expensive. Some players are not in a position to face it, especially doubles players. Commercial flights would start in mid September.’
“If they access private flights they could only return to Argentina when the pandemic ends.”
Argentina has four top 100 ATP players in singles and seven in the doubles.
Perhaps one solution to help any player that may be in such a situation is to use the fund issued by the USTA. The organization has handed out $3.3 million each to both the ATP and WTA for them to use for what they believe is appropriate. The money is essentially unofficial compensation for the US Open scrapping the qualifying tournaments and reducing the size of their doubles draw. Hitting those who are less financially stable compared to the top players. But again, it is unknown as to what exactly will be done with this money and when.
The other health threat
Players will be delighted to be returning to the court, but how will their bodies cope after months away from the tour? Especially given the tight scheduling of top events with a good level of prize money and ranking points at stake. Within seven weeks (August 22nd – October 11th) there will be three Masters 1000 and two grand slam events.
These concerns are nothing new. In fact Milos Raonic was one of the first to speak about the issue two months ago during an interview with CNN.
“Four weeks in five (in September) … I think that will pose issues for players, and I think also because a transition to a different surface (from hard to clay courts) will be very quick,” he told CNN’s Christina Macfarlane.
“The thing that you really hope for is that it doesn’t create an uptick in injuries because that is quite tolling, quite a task.
“Am I happy that it is going to happen? Yes, I think so, to have a chance to play as many grand slams as possible in what is going to end up being a shortened season for us is a very important thing and I’m happy that a way is found to make it happen and hopefully we can get through to that point and be able to compete in those events.”
Ironically, with so many provisions being taken to minimise the risk of players catching COVID-19, it could be argued that injuries may pose a greater threat in some respects. Something that hasn’t been addressed too much by tennis authorities with their focus being on resuming the Tour as soon as possible.
The eagerly awaited return of tennis will undoubtedly be a boost for the sport which has suffered from the brunt of the global pandemic. There is now a start date, but clearly there is much more needed to be done over the coming weeks.
