“Tennis Must Start Again As Soon As Possible” – Italian Tennis Federation Chief

Amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, the world has come to a halt with the majority of the world’s population locking themselves down inside their houses. With the deadly virus devastating the everyday lives of the people, professional tennis doesn’t seem to get underway anytime soon. However, Italian Open 2020 which was scheduled in the month of May, is likely to be rescheduled later this year.

According to Italian Tennis Federation chief Angelo Binaghi tennis is not a contact sport. The fear of the virus transformation is less. He wants the sport to resume as soon as possible. “We are the safest sport from the health point of view: they cannot treat us as team, contact or indoor disciplines,” he said.

“I would like that, in reopening the basic sport, those who govern us understand it. Closed changing rooms, benches on opposite sides, gel at every change of field. Tennis can and must start again as soon as possible: we just need a week’s notice.”

Rationally speaking, tennis is a sport which demands a lot of traveling. Being a widely international sport, tennis players travel from one country to another to play tournaments. But for the moment, traveling itself is the biggest challenge, to be more precise it’s life-threatening in today’s time.

Even if the nations lift their lockdowns and are liberated from the coronavirus havoc, air travel will be a long way to go. And the resumption of tennis is faraway.

Italian tennis tournament’s proposed schedule

Italian Open 2020 has come up with alternative dates, assuming the coronavirus pandemic to be eradicated by then. One of them is September or October, i.e., before or after the rescheduled French Open. In this case, the tournament will be held in Rome.

The tournament is also considering shifting the 2020 edition to Cagliari, and the tournament will take place in November. Or they might make it an indoor event in the month of December. Wherein the ATP events will take place in Milan and the WTA in Turin.

As of now, the tennis tour has been suspended until mid-July. Before May 31, 2020, both ATP and WTA have to decide the fate of North American hard-court summer tournaments this year.