Tennis faces break point after cancellation of Wimbledon
April 2, 2020
Exactly a month ago, the world of men’s tennis welcomed a new ATP champion. Thiago Seyboth Wild, then just a few days short of his 20th birthday, became the first men’s singles player born in the 2000s to have won a tour title, when he beat Casper Ruud in the final of the Chile Open. Words of congratulations were still pouring in for the current world No.114, when, a few weeks later, he became the first professional tennis player to be diagnosed with the novel Coronavirus. A few days ago, former French Open doubles champion Patrick McEnroe too tested positive.
On Wednesday, the All England Club decided to cancel Wimbledon, a development that triggered fears of the rest of the 2020 season getting scrapped. The day also saw ATP and WTA extending the blanket suspension of all tour events till July 13. However, there were several voices that expressed doubts about the restart of the men’s and women’s tour this year.
More so since most of the tournaments scheduled later in the year happen to be in countries – US and UK – that are struggling to deal with the Covid 19 outbreak.
With Wimbledon, the oldest Grand Slam, being scrapped for the first time since World War II, the reaction from across the world were extreme. “Devastated,” tweeted eight-time champion Roger Federer.
