The entire world is struggling during these days dictated by the Coronavirus pandemic. Unfortunately, the widespread lockdown is taking its toll also on our beloved sport. It has been almost 2 months since tennis was stopped when Indian Wells was abruptly canceled, and there are no clear dates about when everything is going to resume.
The cancellation of Wimbledon and the fate of the slams
Both the ATP and the WTA tours had to stop until the 13th of July with the clay and grass court seasons completely wiped out. The Roland Garros has been postponed in September (20th of September), but the date may change again. Wimbledon was completely canceled, with the organization pocketing £114 million from its insurance. The US Open is still on and due to commence by the end of August. There are still doubts about the possibility for the American major to take place especially because of the travel restrictions that are imposed from virtually all countries in the world and make things impossible to plan.
The financial problems
There are some industries and organizations thriving during this pandemic. Companies offering online services are making lots of money right now in every sector. It’s easy to mention firms such as Amazon and Netflix, but also the upcoming ones such as Zoom, TikTok are going pretty well.
Tennis is different as it is organized in a way that fans and their physical presence are at the center of the business. However, the tours and the organizations are already taking into consideration new ways to start again, considering playing without fans and implementing social distancing. The machine needs to start also because many tennis players and related workers are starting to struggle. Players outside the top100 are having hard-time from a financial point of view and some colleagues such as Stefanos Tsitsipas are launching auctions to help them. The ATP and the WTA are working on a relief fund
to help players in distress, but again, the machine needs to restart.When is everything coming back?
Players are trying to “create content” with tasty chats over social media. We have witnessed a lot of funny exchanges such as the ones between Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Andy Murray. Novak Djokovic is also rather active on Social Media and the ATP and WTA have launched an interesting “broadcast” (Tennis United) conducted by Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Vasek Pospisil. Tournaments such as the Mutua Madrid Open have launched a virtual tournament played by the actual players.
Top Academies are also trying to find a way to fill the void. Patrick Mouratouglou is launching the Ultimate Tennis Showdown that is a league played over 5 weekends at his Academy in the south of France. The competition will commence on the 16th of May and it will take place without fans at the very beginning.
Rafael Nadal is also attracting top players at his Academy in Manacor with the idea of televising their training and probably organize competitions. Plans have not been disclosed so far.
1 thing is sure. We need things to get back, but also… to be safe!