ATP and WTA cancel 2020 China tournament swing due to pandemic

Reuters Videos
Updated

SHOWS:

INTERNET (JULY 24, 2020) (SOCIAL MEDIA WEBSITE - ACCESS ALL) (MUTE)

1. STILL IMAGE FROM ATP TOUR'S TWITTER PAGE, SAYING:

"The ATP has announced the cancellation of the 2020 China tournament swing."

2. STILL IMAGE FROM WTA'S TWITTER PAGE, SAYING:

"All seven WTA tournaments that were scheduled in China on WTA's 2020 provisional calendar will not be held"

LONDON, ENGLAND, UK (FILE - JUNE 28, 2019) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

3. ANDY MURRAY TRAINING SESSION AT WIMBLEDON

LONDON, ENGLAND, Uk (FILE - NOVEMBER 8, 2019) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

4. ROGER FEDERER PRACTISING AHEAD OF ATP TOUR FINALS

5. NOVAK DJOKOVIC PRACTISING AHEAD OF ATP TOUR FINALS

6. RAFAEL NADAL PRACTISING AHEAD OF ATP TOUR FINALS

LONDON, ENGLAND, UK (FILE - JUNE 28, 2019) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

7. SERENA WILLIAMS PRACTISING AT WIMBLEDON

SINGAPORE (FILE - OCTOBER 20, 2018) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

8. VARIOUS OF NAOMI OSAKA PRACTISING AHEAD OF THE WTA FINALS

PARIS, FRANCE (FILE - JUNE 9, 2019) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

9. ASHLEIGH BARTY POSING WITH FRENCH OPEN TROPHY IN FRONT OF MEDIA

STORY: The two main tennis tours on Friday (July 24) cancelled all of their remaining tournaments in China for this year, including the flagship WTA Finals, in the wake of the country's ban on international sporting events due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The General Administration of Sport, China's highest sporting body, said only trial events for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics would be held in 2020.

The ATP and WTA had held out hope of getting exemptions for their events as they tried to play as many tournaments as possible in an already heavily disrupted season but released statements conceding defeat within minutes of each other.

"We are extremely disappointed that our world-class events in China will not take place this year," WTA Chief Executive Steve Simon said in a statement.

The WTA had seven tournaments in China in its provisional calendar for the remainder of 2020, including the season-ending WTA Finals. The Tour resumes on Aug. 3 after five months with the Palermo Open in Sicily.

The ATP have cancelled the Shanghai Masters, Asia's only ATP Masters 1000 tournament, the China Open in Beijing, an ATP 500 event, as well as the Chengdu Open and Zhuhai Championships, ATP 250 events.

"It's with a heavy heart that we announce ATP tournaments will not be played in China this year," said ATP Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi.

"We respect the Chinese government's decision to do what's best for the country in response to the unprecedented global situation."

(Production: David Grip)