Update - March 16, 2020:
With the cancellation of three more events on Monday, March 16, the WTA has now ostensibly suspended the women's professional tennis tour until May 2.
The Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany and the Istanbul Open in Turkey (scheduled for the week of April 20) and the J&T Banka Prague Open in the Czech Republic (scheduled for the week of April 27) will not be held.
"Due to the ongoing global coronavirus outbreak, the WTA tournaments in Stuttgart, Istanbul and Prague will not be held as scheduled," a WTA spokesperson said in a statement.
"We regret this is the case for all of our loyal fans, players, sponsors and all those who support women’s professional tennis. At this point in time, the WTA Tour is now suspended until May 2. We will make a decision in the week ahead regarding the remaining WTA European clay court events and will continue to monitor this situation closely and its impact on the 2020 WTA Tour season."
March 12, 2020:
Four days after the cancellation of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., both the ATP and the ITF have announced suspensions of all events through at least late April due to COVID-19 concerns, while the WTA announced that at least four events will not be held.
The ATP announced a six-week suspension of the men's tour, including all ATP Tour and ATP Challenger Tour events scheduled through and including the week of April 20.
The Miami Open (whose stadium court is pictured above), which was set to begin on March 23, and the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships, scheduled for April 4, fall inside this six-week suspension. Outside the U.S., the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters and the Barcelona Open are the biggest events to be affected by the measure.
The ITF announcement, which came less than an hour after the ATP's, detailed cancellation of all ITF-owned and sanctioned events until at least April 20. This includes the men's and women's ITF World Tennis Tour, the ITF World Tour Juniors, the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour, the ITF Beach Tennis Tour and the ITF Seniors Tour. The decision was made based on discussion with both the ATP and WTA tours.
The measures came one day after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. Also impacting proceedings is the U.S. announcement of a 30-day travel restriction from 26 European countries.
"This is not a decision that was taken lightly and it represents a great loss for our tournaments, players, and fans worldwide," said ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi. "However we believe this is the responsible action needed at this time in order to protect the health and safety of our players, staff, the wider tennis community and general public health in the face of this global pandemic. The worldwide nature of our sport and the international travel required presents significant risks and challenges in today’s circumstances, as do the increasingly restrictive directives issued by local authorities. We continue to monitor this on a daily basis and we look forward to the Tour resuming when the situation improves. In the meantime, our thoughts and well-wishes are with all those that have been affected by the virus.”
The impact of this suspension on ATP ranking points is currently being reviewed.
The WTA's cancellations first centered around two major events on U.S. soil in Miami and Charleston, the latter of which has been held every year since 1973.
“Due to safety and health concerns surrounding the coronavirus, as well as the travel restrictions imposed on entering the United States from Europe, the Miami Open and the Volvo Car Open in Charleston will not be held at this time," said Steve Simon, WTA Chairman and CEO.
"There isn’t anything more important than protecting the health of our players, staff, volunteers and fans who attend our events, along with the general public. We are disappointed but the decision has been made in the interest of public health and safety, which is the top priority. The WTA, working alongside our player and tournament leaders, will make a decision in the week ahead regarding the European clay-court season.”
Late in the day on Thursday, the women's tour also announced the cancellation of the Copa Colsanitas in Bogota, Colombia—held the same week as Charleston—and the WTA 125 Series event in Guadalajara, Mexico, which was slated to begin next week.
"The local and national Colombian governments took measures today to cancel all public and private sports events of more than 500 people, as well as impose international border closures and travel restrictions due to the coronavirus outbreak," a statement read.
"As such, the Copa Colsanitas in Bogota will not be held. Additionally, the WTA 125K in Guadalajara, Mexico, has been canceled. We are disappointed these events cannot be held, but health and safety will always come first."
