By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, July 21, 2020
"If you’re looking for normalcy, you probably won’t see that until 2022, and that’s a long time away," WTA CEO Steve Simon said.
Photo credit: WTA Tour Facebook
The WTA Tour's return to normalcy is likely an 18-month road.
WTA CEO Steve Simon conceded a complete return to conventional tournament tennis as we knew it pre-Coronavirus crisis isn't happening until 2022.
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In an interview with The National, Simon said the Tour operates under a week-to-week provisional plan amid the evolving COVID-19 pandemic.
“We still have a lot of issues, with quarantine, this is going to be an ongoing issue the rest of the year,” the WTA Chief told The National. “Everything week to week is provisional right now, but we got to the point that we should try to do as much as we can, and use this year as a learning test; how are we going to live with this virus, and how are we going to begin to operate moving forward, because this is not going away tomorrow.
“And we have to figure out how to move forward, with the same point of keeping everybody safe; because if you’re looking for normalcy, you probably won’t see that until 2022, and that’s a long time away."
The WTA is scheduled to resume on August 3rd in Palermo, Italy with Wimbledon winner Simona Halep among the players committing to the Tour's first tournament in five months.
However, given both Coronavirus health risk and uncertainty over potential player and coach quarantines there is growing speculation both Palermo may be in jeopardy. The ATP's Citi Open in Washington, DC cancelled today.
Simon's experience as longtime former tournament director of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells gives him insight into the challenges the Coronavirus has imposed on players, coaches, staff and tournaments, particularly those fighting for economic survival.
Though World TeamTennis is so far successfully running its entire 2020 season at the Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia and the NBA plans to play from its safety bubble in Orlando, there isn't a bubble big enough to cover an international tour.
Running the international pro tennis circuit poses more complexities given varying travel restrictions and quarantine requirements of national governments. Simon says the Tour is trying to balance player safey in this coronavirus climate while providing player job opportunities and tournaments the support to sustain in a declining international economy.
“The risk that you run is if you don’t operate, these numbers [of tournaments] could even fall down further because of the economic realities that are going to come with sports in general,” Simon told The National. “So yes, [player] arguments are fair, there aren’t as many jobs, but there’s been a tremendous effort to produce an awful lot of jobs, and I think it gives us the best opportunity forward, in a very imperfect situation we’re all dealing with right now."
The Tour's successful expansion into China in recent years has been a boon tapping into an expansive fan base, but the entire Asian swing could evaporate this fall.
China, the birthplace of COVID-19, announced a ban on international sports staged in the nation for the rest of 2020. Hong Kong and Tianjin already cancelled.
The Premier Mandatory China Open in Beijing, scheduled to begin October 12th, and the Premier 5 Wuhan Open and the International event in Nanchang, both scheduled to October 19th, remain on the calendar for now as does the Zhengzhou Open starting on October 26th.
The crown jewel of the WTA calendar, the WTA Finals in Shenzhen, are scheduled for November 8-15th, but given the government's cancelling of international sport and the coronavirus safety risk the entire Asian swing is up on the air.
Simon says the prospect of an Asian swing is "50-50" and expects a final decision from the Chinese government by the start of August.
“I think we’ll know next two weeks whether we’ll be able to play in China or not," Simon said. "We certainly hope that we do. We’ve had conversations with the governmental entities within China and they’re obviously looking at a much bigger picture than just tennis, which we have to respect and we do respect.
"I don’t know whether we’ll be there or not, I think it’s 50-50 right now."