The Corona-virus is a global pandemic that has affected more than 140,000 people worldwide so far. It is also impacting the world of sports. The ATP and WTA tennis season 2020 events till the 20th of April have been called off. Other sporting events like basketball, football and hockey have also followed the suit. Even the Global sporting spectacle of 2020 Tokyo Olympics seems in danger. So are tennis and other sports among the latest victims of this global outbreak. We analyse in this article the impact on Tennis season 2020.
Top Tournaments Cancelled for Tennis season 2020
Indian Wells 2020 was the first major tournament to bear the brunt of COVID-19. The Masters 1000 event played every year in March in the Californian desert was cancelled after the growing outbreak of the virus. California, the place which hosts the tournament has one of the highest number of infected people in the United States. The news came as a jolt to the tennis fans but was more or less expected. Earlier the Indian Wells tournament staff had said that they would use advanced protection measure including gloves to ball boys and girls.
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The next Masters 1000 was to be held more than 2800 miles far in Miami Florida. The organizers initially claimed that the tournament preparation was on track. The tournament website also said that all needed efforts would be done to make the event successful. However, after seeing the global panic about corona-virus the ATP and WTA acted. They have cancelled all tennis season 2020 events till the 3rd week of April, including the Miami Open. This means that the sunshine double of Tennis season 2020 is highly unlikely to take place this year.
Clay Spring of Tennis Season 2020 In Danger?
It is not just the US hard court swing that will bear brunt of this Pandemic. The Tennis season 2020’s European clay court tournaments which were supposed to start from April are also in danger. The Monte Carlo and Barcelona Open tournaments have already been cancelled. Locking at the current situation in Spain and Italy, the Madrid Open and Italian Open also look unlikely to happen as scheduled.
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This brings us to the showpiece clay court event of the French Open. The Roland Garros International tournament is scheduled between 24 May and 7 June 2020. The Tennis season 2020’s 2nd Grand Slam thus stands in danger of being whitewashed amidst the global panic. That could also translate into the Grass court swing which is mostly played in Germany and United Kingdom. So we could very well have the 2020 tennis season without French Open and Wimbledon, if we don’t choose to look too far towards the US Open in September. This posts a very grim picture for the tennis season 2020. Even the whole season could be whitewashed.
Will The Olympics Take Place?
The 2020 Olympic Games are scheduled in Tokyo in July and August. Tennis is one of the important sports at this global event held once in 4 years. Japan has also got more than 700 Corona-virus related cases till date. The US president Donald Trump also suggested that the event should be postponed for a year till the panic stops. The 2020 Olympics include number of games and a lot of audience. It doesn’t look likely to happen this year if the virus outbreak continues like this.
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It is not just Tennis season 2020 that is bearing the brunt of COVID-19. The Golf Masters events have also been postponed for now. The European football premier league matches have been suspended for now. The national basketball association and national hockey league in North America have suspended their 2020 seasons. Back home in India the high profile Indian Premier League has also been suspended till 15th of April. Many sportsmen from football to baseball have also been tested positive to this new viral infection.
It is a sad story for the world for sports but these are very sensible decisions to save precious lives. Athletes from all sections are donating for Corona-virus prevention equipment, test kits and research. This offers some hope amidst adversity for the world for sports to come together to fight against this common opponent.