The attempt to reopen professional tennis took a big hit on Monday with the cancellation of the Citi Open, an ATP 500 level event that was expected to revive the official game starting August 14 in Washington, five months after the coronavirus pandemic broke out. tennis closed in mid-March.
“The tournament was approaching and we still had many unresolved problems,” Mark Ein, president and CEO of MDE Tennis, tournament operator, told ESPN. “And more than resolved have sprung up.”
Among the main reasons for the cancellation: confusion about the patchwork of global immigration and quarantine policies affecting international travelers, including players; a worsening of the pandemic in the United States after a period of slowdown; and uncertainty about the tournament partners’ ability to fulfill their obligations.
“When we announced our plans to move forward, everything was improving,” said Ein. “Trends were moving in the right direction. The virus was under control, travel was opening up, people were allowed to reunite with social distances locally. But two weeks ago, they all reversed and started going in the opposite direction. “
Ein hoped that the tournament could host a limited number of fans, as World TeamTennis is doing at the Greenbrier resort in West Virginia.
“It became clear that it wasn’t going to happen,” said Ein. “DC is one of the best places, but across the country [the pandemic] is getting worse and this has made opening even more difficult. “
The tournament had embraced the concept of “bubble” as a safety precaution, with plans to host all players and some staff in a hotel with extensive healthcare facilities and protocols. But, Ein said, just two hours before the hotel deal was to be concluded, the plant was withdrawn. “We were told that all the businesses they had booked for September and October had just been canceled, so there was no point in opening up just for us,” said Ein.
An international cast of players had indicated their willingness to help restart the game in Washington. Although the official registration list has never been made public, Ein said that about two thirds of the top 30 ATP players, led by n. 5 Daniil Medvedev and from no. 6 Stefanos Tsitsipas, had entered. Given that the only ATP event scheduled before the combined Cincinnati Masters / US Open kicks off at the National Tennis Center in New York on August 23, the Citi Open has appeared as an important tuning event after almost five months without competition ATP.
The WTA is still planning to resume operations with the Palermo Ladies’ Open in Italy on August 3, followed by the Prague Open in the Czech Republic and the Top Seed Open in Lexington, Kentucky, both new events. WTA tournaments are all lower-level “international” events (although Serena Williams is the main character in Lexington). The WTA, whose constituency is largely based in Europe or North America, is able to organize its events in part because players who do not wish to travel abroad have the opportunity to play an event of equal value in the United States or Europe.
Male players don’t have the same choices in the coming weeks. The Citi Open was supposed to be the only game in town, which put even more pressure on the tournament organizers.
“Restrictions on international travel are the most important things that have not yet been resolved,” said Ein. “They are complicated because they involve traveling to and from the United States. So we were looking at a huge amount of fields that cannot enter the country or return home. Things started to change at the borders two or three weeks ago, and it became clear that things would not have gone better. “
However, Ein believes there is a “good shot” that the Cincinnati / US Open combination will happen as expected.
“I think canceling our event could force the resolution of immigration issues to speed up,” said Ein. “When people see that there are real consequences for them that don’t work out, I think it will draw a lot of attention to them.”
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