ITF President talks coronavirus outbreak, French Open e schedule

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ITF President David Haggerty reveals back in February they set up a COVID-19 so they were prepared in the case of coronavirus outbreak. 

Last week, the ATP and WTA suspended the tours through to June 07 due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

"Back in February we set up a Covid-19 team just to prepare for what may happen. As you're aware the tennis calendar is postponed at this point in time. It's had a tremendous impact on world sport. We feel for the players, tournaments, spectators," Haggerty said during his appearance on The First Serve. 

"I think tennis is organised differently than some other sports. As you know we have seven stakeholders. The ITF, WTA, ATP and four grand slams.

"Tennis does best when we collaborate together. Some of these recent decisions have tennis talking again, trying to collaborate."

The ATP and WTA initially suspended the tours for several weeks and the plan was to resume the season at the end of April. 

But some players weren't too optimistic that the season would resume next month. 

The FFT reacted even before the ATP and WTA extended the tours suspension as they rescheduled the French Open to September 20 - October 04.

"It's tennis working together. The seven bodies. That's why at times, a situation like this can occur. It's not the ITF's role to say an event can do this or can do that. We try to work together to look at the calendar and look at what's best for tennis.

"All events and tournaments are important. We know the players are anxious to play when it's safe. We'll be looking into a schedule that makes sense for the players to reengage and play when it's safe." 

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2UtDAte

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