The men's ATP Tour and women's WTA Tour issue revised calendars for the resumption of professional tennis after the shutdown caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic.
RESENDING WITH COMPLETE SCRIPT VIDEO SHOWS: FILE FOOTAGE OF TOP MALE AND FEMALE TENNIS PLAYERS SHOWS: MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA (FEBRUARY 3, 2020) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1.
VARIOUS OF WORLD NUMBER ONE NOVAK DJOKOVIC POSING WITH AUSTRALIAN OPEN TROPHY AND KISSING TROPHY PARIS, FRANCE (FILE - JUNE 9, 2019) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 2.
VARIOUS OF WORLD NUMBER ONE ASHLEIGH BARTY POSING WITH FRENCH OPEN TROPHY INFRONT OF MEDIA LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (FILE - NOVEMBER 8, 2019) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 3.
VARIOUS OF ROGER FEDERER PRACTISING AHEAD OF ATP TOUR FINALS 4.
VARIOUS OF NOVAK DJOKOVIC PRACTISING AHEAD OF ATP TOUR FINALS 5.
VARIOUS OF RAFAEL NADAL PRACTISING AHEAD OF ATP TOUR FINALS NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (AUGUST 20, 2019) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 6.
SERENA WILLIAMS AT NIKE'S "QUEENS OF TENNIS" EVENT IN MANHATTAN LONDON, ENGLAND, UK (FILE - JUNE 28, 2019) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 7.
SERENA WILLIAMS PRACTISING AT WIMBLEDON SINGAPORE (FILE - OCTOBER 20, 2018) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 8.
VARIOUS OF NAOMI OSAKA PRACTISING AHEAD OF THE WTA FINALS PARIS, FRANCE (NOVEMBER 12, 2019) (AGENCY POOL - ACCESS ALL) 9.
FRENCH PRESIDENT, EMMANUEL MACRON, ARRIVING TO APPLAUSE TO NEWS CONFERENCE TO CONGRATULATE FRENCH TENNIS PLAYERS FOR WINNING THE 2019 FED CUP 10.
CLOSE-UP OF THE FED CUP TROPHY 11.
MACRON POSING WITH THE TEAM PERTH, AUSTRALIA (FILE - NOVEMBER 8, 2019) (ITF - ACCESS ALL) 12.
KRISTINA MLADENOVIC AT PRACTICE WHO PLAYED WITH CAROLINE GARCIA TO WIN THE DECIDING DOUBLES MATCH FOR FRANCE AGAINST AUSTRALIA'S ASH BARTY AND SAM STOSUR TO WIN THE 2019 FED CUP FINAL 3-2 13.
CAROLINE GARCIA AT PRACTICE 14.
BARTY AT PRACTICE 15.
VARIOUS OF THE TWO TEAMS AHEAD OF THE OPENING GALA DINNER, AUSTRALIA IN BLACK/WHITE, FRANCE IN PINK STORY: The men's ATP Tour and women's WTA Tour on Wednesday (June 17) issued revised calendars for the resumption of professional tennis after the shutdown caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The men's Tour will resume on Aug.
14 with the Citi Open, ATP 500 event in Washington, D.C., while the first WTA event will be staged in Palermo, Italy from Aug 3.
Tennis, apart from some exhibition events, ground to a halt in mid-March, with Wimbledon being cancelled altogether and the French Open being moved to September.
Announcing the new provisional schedule, ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi said the objective had been to salvage as much of the season as possible.
Following the Citi Open, the Cincinnati Masters 1000 will be held at Flushing Meadows, followed by the U.S. Open.
The claycourt swing will start on Sept.
8 in Kitzbuhel, Austria and will overlap with the second week of the U.S. Open.
There will then be the Madrid Open and the Italian Open in Rome before Roland Garros.
The WTA's revised calendar includes 20 tournaments, beginning in Palermo, then moving to the Cincinnati tournament being staged in New York, before the U.S. Open.
Following the U.S. Open, the WTA Tour will continue to Europe with several clay events, including the Madrid Open leading into Roland Garros which concludes on Oct.
11.
For the foreseeable future all tournaments will be held without spectators (Production: Tim Hart)
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