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ATP, WTA to prolong suspension of tours amid COVID-19 outbreak

The ATP earlier had already declared a six-week suspension of the men’s professional tours due to the escalating health issues caused by the COVID-19.

ATP, WTA to prolong suspension of tours amid COVID-19 outbreak

Switzerland's Roger Federer celebrates his straight sets win over Serbia's Novak Djokovic in their men's singles round-robin match on day five of the ATP World Tour Finals tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London on November 14, 2019. - Roger Federer beat Novak Djokovic 6-4, 6-3 to reach the last four at the ATP Finals on Thursday, a result that confirms Rafael Nadal will finish the year as world number one. (Photo by Ben STANSALL / AFP)

The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) on Wednesday announced that due to the continuing outbreak of the novel coronavirus top-level Tennis will not be returning till at least the second week of June.

“The professional tennis season is now suspended through 7 June 2020, including the ATP Challenger Tour and ITF World Tennis Tour. At this time, tournaments taking place from 8 June 2020 onwards are still planning to go ahead as per the published schedule,” a statement on the official webiste of ATP read.

The tournaments that will be affected are the ATP/WTA tournaments in Madrid and Rome, along with the WTA events in Strasbourg and Rabat and ATP events in Munich, Estoril, Geneva and Lyon.

As a result of the suspension, it has also been announced that all the ATP and WTA rankings will be frozen throughout the period.

The announcement comes days after this year’s second Grand Slam French Open was postponed. Earlier, the Ronald Garros was scheduled to be played between May 18 and June 7,while the new dates will see the clay-court Slam from September 20 to October 4.

Meanwhile, the ATP had already declared a six-week suspension of the men’s professional tours due to the escalating health and safety issues caused by the COVID-19 which has already killed over 8,900 people and infected more than 2,19,000 people worldwide.

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