WTA mostly ‘traditional’ after March

LONDON • The WTA Tour will follow its usual schedule for most of 2021 despite the coronavirus pandemic, after organisers on Tuesday announced an updated calendar which takes the season through to Wimbledon in July.

The Indian Wells event, jointly held with the ATP Tour, was postponed from its usual March date, while the Australian Open Grand Slam has been delayed until Feb 8.

But top-level tournaments, including the Miami Open, Madrid Open and Italian Open, will all go ahead as usual.

“The current schedule reflects a traditional WTA Tour calendar for the majority of the season past mid-March,” the WTA said in a statement.

The women’s tour also added that “alternatives are being assessed” for a new date to hold Indian Wells. Further updates for the 2021 season past Wimbledon will be confirmed in “due course”.

Following the Abu Dhabi season-opener, which started yesterday and runs till next Wednesday, there will be two events in Melbourne in the run-up to the Australian Open.

The men’s circuit starts today with the Delray Beach Open in Florida, where Chilean world No. 22 Cristian Garin is the top seed. The event is running concurrently with another hard-court tournament in Antalya, Turkey.

The ATP last month announced its revised calendar for the year, with tournaments in Rotterdam, Buenos Aires, Doha, Santiago, Marseille, Acapulco and Dubai set to take place in March.

Beyond the March 24-April 4 Miami Open, the men’s schedule remains tentative although former ATP chief executive officer and chairman Chris Kermode has told the Tennis Podcast that the Monte Carlo Masters, which was axed last year due to the pandemic, will “definitely be held in 2021”.

Wimbledon, the only Grand Slam scrapped last year, has also said it is considering holding the grass-court event behind closed doors, but another cancellation is not on the agenda.

The organisers plan to issue a further update at the end of this month.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE