Wimbledon
The ATP and WTA professional tennis tours suspended all competition through at least June 7 because of the new coronavirus pandemic and froze their rankings Thursday “until further notice.”
In a rare joint statement by the men’s and women’s tours, they announced that the entire clay-court circuit “will not be held as scheduled” – a day after the start of the French Open, also played on that surface, was postponed from May to September.
The French tennis federation’s go-it-alone decision to pick new dates and reschedule the beginning of its clay-court Grand Slam tournament for one week after the end of the hard-court U.S. Open in New York prompted some shade from the fractured sport’s other governing bodies.
“Now is not a time to act unilaterally, but in unison,” the ATP-WTA statement said. “All decisions related to the impact of the coronavirus require appropriate consultation and review with the stakeholders in the game.—AFP
