The ATP and WTA have released a joint statement regarding their future plan of action around the coronavirus outbreak and one of the decisions taken include the freezing of the men’s and women’s rankings during this period.
They also noted the two tours will both be suspended till at least June 7 in a bid to try and settle things down with respect to the coronavirus situation. The last tennis action on either tour came in the lead-up to the Indian Wells Open which then became the first tournament to be cancelled because of this much-dreaded outbreak.
According to a statement released by the two bodies, there will be no more action during the spring clay court season, which includes the Madrid Open, Rome Open, Strasbourg Open and Rabat Open along with ATP Munich, ATP Estoril, ATP Geneva and ATP Lyon, and all Challengers, and the ITF competitions including the women’s second-rung competitions and the Futures tournaments.
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The biggest question on everyone’s lips other than when tennis resumes is what happens to the men’s and women’s rankings.
ATP and WTA have confirmed there will be no change in the rankings when tennis resumes. This news will come as a relief to the previous year’s winners of big competitions like Roger Federer in Miami and Dominic Thiem in Indian Wells, both of whom would have lost a lot of points if the aforementioned rule wasn’t invoked.
The statement said:
“At this time, tournaments taking place from 8 June 2020 onwards are still planning to go ahead as per the published schedule. In parallel, the FedEx ATP Rankings and WTA Rankings will be frozen throughout this period and until further notice.”
The statement also said all stakeholders were jointly exploring various options to try and maximise the rest of the tennis season once it resumes. It added:
“We are committed to working through these matters with our player and tournament members, and the other governing bodies, in the weeks and months ahead.”
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