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WINSTON-SALEM — The Winston-Salem Open has become a casualty of the coronavirus squeeze on sports, after being left out of the ATP Tour’s reconfigured calendar.
The professional tennis tournament, typically the final leg on the hard-court series of events that serve as the lead-up to the U.S. Open, won’t be held this summer under the framework of the adjusted ATP schedule put in place this week.
The Winston-Salem Open had been scheduled for Aug. 22-29. Now, the Western & Southern Open will be relocated from its home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, to New York, and played across those dates without spectators.
The moves set up the Western & Southern Open as the precursor to the U.S. Open, which remains Aug. 31-Sept. 13 as originally scheduled. Both tournaments will be conducted at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, the events running back-to-back in what’s billed to be a tennis bubble without fans, as per a United States Tennis Association health and safety plan approved by New York state government officials.
For all of those pieces to fit together — and for pro tennis to find an avenue for restarting amid the COVID-19 pandemic — the Winston-Salem Open was required to give up its slot on the ATP calendar, tournament director Jeff Ryan said.
“We reviewed a range of models for having the Winston-Salem Open in August,” he said. “But above all, we made our decision for the good of the sport of tennis. We are fully supportive of the decision to hold back-to-back events in New York and are proud to be part of the structure that will allow the New York tournaments to take place.”
So while absorbing a blow for the betterment of the sport, the Winston-Salem Open will look ahead to August 2021 and its expected return to the ATP schedule.
The tournament has been held every summer for the last nine years at Wake Forest, crowning champions such as Greensboro native John Isner (in 2011 and 2012) and Russian Daniil Medvedev (in 2018), both of whom are ranked among the top 25 players in the world.
“While this is disappointing, we want our community and supporters to know that our decision has positively impacted the single-most important tennis event in the U.S.,” Ryan said. “The U.S. Open funds the grassroots tennis programs across the country. This decision has enabled it to take place.”
Ryan said the Winston-Salem Open developed several different potential scenarios for a 2020 tournament, at the direction of the ATP. But in the event of what are considered to be extraordinary circumstances, the governing board of the ATP ultimately possesses responsibility and authority to rearrange its tournament calendar in the best interest of the tour.
“We are profoundly grateful for all the support the tournament receives from Winston-Salem and the surrounding communities,” Ryan said, “and we are pledging to be back, better than ever in 2021 and beyond.”
The ATP and USTA have maintained ongoing conversations during the last three months about the tennis calendar and the reopening of pro tennis.
The USTA is preparing a number of safety measures and precautions in New York for the Western & Southern Open and the U.S. Open, including continuous testing, additional cleaning, extra locker room space, dedicated housing and transportation. Players will be required to commit to living in a protective bubble, as will all other people associated with the tournaments.
Public health experts, government officials and USTA leadership have recommended a closed environment during the week preceding the U.S. Open. Thus, holding the Western & Southern Open before the U.S. Open at the same site will create such a possibility.
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