There are fresh concerns over the resumption of tennis in North America next month after a report claims that the Citi Open could be axed this week.
French outlet Tennis Break News says they have quoted ‘three sources’ which suggested the event could be cancelled within hours or days due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Although they did not name any of the three sources they have spoken to. Fears over its cancellation has been linked to a recent decision by the European Union to extend their travel bans on American’s visiting the region due to a spike of COVID-19 cases in the country. Therefore, players who travel to America under the current circumstances could be forced to go into quarantine when they return which will affect their preparation for the European clay-court swing.
The author of the report concerning the Citi Open is Grégory Massart, who is the director of Tennis Break News. According to his Twitter biography he also works for French outlet Canal+ Africa. Former top 40 player Florent Serra and tennis consultant Julien Varlet also work for the publication.
There has been no comment for the Citi Open concerning the report, which was published late on Sunday evening. During a recent interview with Tennis Majors, tournament director Mark Ein admitted that he was still concerned that the event could be cancelled due to the effects of the pandemic. On Sunday the Washington Department of Health reported 920 new cases of the coronavirus. Overall the state has conducted 809,339 tests with 5.8% coming back positive.
“We have different milestones, where we have to do commitments…where you have to kind of constantly assess where we are, because the worst disaster would actually be to cancel the week before, when players are here, made travel plans,” Ein said.
“We’ve spent a ton of money, that would be bad for everyone, too. So we’re constantly doing recalibrations just to make sure that it makes sense.’
“Frankly, I think the only thing that is a meaningful possibility is just the travel issues; can people get in and out of the country.”
Should the event be cancelled, it would throw into major doubt the entire US hard-court swing. Numerous players have already voiced their concerns about playing in America due to both safety and travel reasons. Recently world No.5 Elina Svitolina says she currently plans to return to professional tennis on the clay in Madrid after the US Open.
The Citi Open is due to start on August 14th and is currently set to be the first ATP tournament to take place following the Tour break. Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas are currently on the entry list. However, it has already been confirmed that Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem will not be playing.
