WTA chief hopes Palermo Open will
provide blueprint for 2020
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[July 23, 2020]
By Sudipto Ganguly
MUMBAI (Reuters) - WTA chief Steve
Simon cannot wait for the Tour to get back up and running in Sicily
next month and hopes the Palermo Open will provide a blueprint for
tournament operations amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The women's claycourt tournament, which gets underway in the
Sicilian capital on Aug. 3, will be the first across both the WTA or
ATP tours since they were suspended in early March because of the
novel coronavirus outbreak.
"I'd say there's definitely an excitement to get back to doing what
we love," WTA Chairman and Chief Executive Simon told Reuters by
video call from the United States.
"Obviously there's been a lot of hard work that's been done by the
tournament promoters as well as the team to get us to this stage. So
we're going into this with great hopes.
"And hopefully we've found a solution that will allow tennis to
operate in this environment."
Simon said the Tour was looking to stage as many tournaments as
possible in 2020 and the second week of the patched-together
calendar will see events in Prague and the United States.
"I think our first three events -- Palermo, Prague and Lexington --
will certainly create that pathway for us," he added.
"Those three tournaments are going to happen unless we should
receive a last-minute issue from the government or local medical
officials."
RIGHT BALANCE
The ATP's bid to restart the men's season at the Citi Open in
Washington D.C. in early August has already foundered and Simon said
the WTA were fortunate that their first tournament was in Europe.
"It's just a difference in our calendars that provided us the
opportunity to begin in Europe, which I do think has been
advantageous for us," said Simon.
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Switzerland's Martina Hingis is presented with gifts from CEO Of The
WTA, Steve Simon. REUTERS/Edgar Su
"If you look around the world, the European Union is probably the
most stable area outside of maybe China proper right now. That
definitely helped us.
"And starting them on clay is good from a health perspective as
well, a little softer surface, as they come back to play and then
they can evolve into the hardcourt season."
The second and third stops on the hardcourt season are in New York
at the Western & Southern Open and U.S. Open but there are big
questions over whether they can go ahead and Simon said a final
decision would be made soon.
The restart has divided opinion among the players, with some 200,000
new COVID-19 cases being reported globally every day and
international travel restrictions still in place.
"Where we got to was, unless everybody can travel nobody plays? Or
do we try to find opportunities for all of those that can play and
feel comfortable playing?" Simon said.
"And we got to the balance: We should be trying to get as many jobs
and as many opportunities for as many people as we can to continue
our sport.
"Obviously, if we don't think the balance is right or we think the
conditions have changed and it's not safe, (or) we don't like what's
happening due to the challenges we have, we will not hesitate to
shut down."
(Editing by Nick Mulvenney and Peter Rutherford)
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