When will tennis resume this year many people are asking with the cancellation of Wimbledon and the postponement of the French Open until September.
Due to COVID-19 the French Open has been put back to the end of September from May in the hope that by the threat of COVID-19 would have eased allowing for sporting events to take place again, which is by no means guaranteed.
The French Open will therefore begin just one week after the US Open which may mean that many top players may not wish to play in both as going from hard courts to clay in a different continent within a week of each other would probably mean they would not be at the top of their game for both tournaments.
However, this decision was taken by the French tennis Federation without consultation with the ATP/WTA/other Grand Slams and the players. It also clashes with the Laver Cup Roger Federer started.
Wimbledon was finally cancelled earlier this month which was no great surprise and will mean there is no grass court season in 2020, this will mean by 2021 Wimbledon Roger Federer will just be a few weeks shy of his 40thbirthday.
It is the first time it has been cancelled since the World Wars but the chance of the government allowing 40,000 people crammed intoWimbledon come the end of June was very minimal to say the least and of course the health and safety of everyone is a lot more important than Wimbledon.
Of course, England also hosts other grass court tournaments such as Queens and Eastbourne which have been cancelled which will cost the Lawn Tennis Association a lot of money.
We imagine Wimbledon 2021 will be extremely popular with many people swapping their packages and debenture tickets to next year leaving not many Wimbledon hospitality and Wimbledon Debenture tickets being left for 2021 now which could be Roger Federer’s swansong………….
There is also the question of whether, despite the French Open being rescheduled, we will see any more tennis this year? At the moment there is no vaccine and with tournaments requiring players, coaches, media, and fans coming from all corners of the globe it may be tricky to reopen the tennis calendar for this year.