Nothing is official yet, but the very start of the 2021 season is taking shape. While the trend has been going in this direction for several days, an article in the Gulf News daily confirmed Sunday that the United Arab Emirates would indeed be the theater of resumption of hostilities on the courts. From January 5 to 13, the first tournament of the year on the WTA circuit will take place in Abu Dhabi, while at the same time, the Australian Open qualifiers will take place in Dubai (January 9-13) according to an anonymous source from the organization.
It is now clear that the first Grand Slam tournament of the year will be held in Melbourne from February 8 to 21, 2021. And the Australian authorities, in agreement with the governing bodies of world tennis (ITF, ATP, WTA and the Open of Australia), have therefore found a solution to organize the qualifications, unlike the US Open last summer which canceled them. But if Roland-Garros had welcomed them to its site in the fall, this will not be the case for the Australian Major.
In all, 32 players will win their tickets to Melbourne on Dubai’s 10 courts for 4 days of competition. “There are some of the best players in the world doing their winter preparation in Dubai. They will travel with the qualifiers in charters that will fly to Melbourne“, detailed the anonymous source. Once in Australia, all these small people will observe two weeks of quarantine during which the training will be authorized, like the competition for the second week.
Note that the WTA tournament in Abu Dhabi as the qualifications in Dubai will be played behind closed doors to meet health security standards, pandemic requires. Note that on the ATP circuit, the season should open with the Delray Beach tournament which traditionally takes place in February (like Abu Dhabi for the women’s circuit). The schedule for the first quarter of 2021 should be formalized in the coming days.
