Both Men’s and Women’s Tennis Associations have decided to cancel their events scheduled in China and Japan, later this year. This major decision was taken by the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) due to the travel restrictions imposed due to the ongoing pandemic.
Before the Covid-19 crisis, WTA reserved a big part of the tennis calendar for its Asian tour. Japanese cities Hiroshima and Osaka, as well as Guangzhou, Nanchang, Wuhan Zhengzhou and Beijing in China played host to WTA events. Although, WTA have still not made a final decision on the future of the WTA Finals in Shenzhen. A final call on it is expected to be taken soon.
Speaking on this major decision, WTA chairman and chief executive, Steve Simon, said, “We are disappointed that our world-class events in China and Japan will not take place this year. We would like to acknowledge the dedication and significant efforts made by our affected tournaments in exploring all possibilities to stage the events this year and their continued commitment to the WTA. We very much look forward to returning in 2022.”
Focusing on exploring other possibilities, WTA have already made the decision to relocate the tournaments. The WTA Chicago Women’s Open has been added to the 2021 calendar for late August.
The ATP also confirmed the cancellation of their events in Beijing and Tokyo. The China Open in Beijing and Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo have included in the list of ATP 500 events. However, another premier ATP 1000 event in Shanghai, the Rolex Shanghai Masters, still has its future in the air. The organizers are keen to stage the tournament this season given the magnitude of it.