Tokyo (AFP)
The Pan Pacific Open in Osaka, Japan, one of Asia's biggest WTA tournaments scheduled for November, has been canceled due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, organizers said on Tuesday.
"We have tried to imagine a tournament with a reduced gauge or even without a spectator" but "we have realized the obviousness of a cancellation in the face of the difficulties of being able to ensure the safety" of all the participants, they indicated. in a press release.
The Pan Pacific Open had already been moved from September to November in the hope that the tournament held continuously since 1984 and won last year by the Japanese Naomi Osaka could be held.
This is a new blow for sport in Japan after the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics to 2021, which should have opened last week.
The cancellation of the Pan Pacific Open follows that of Friday of all ATP and WTA tennis competitions scheduled in China by the end of the year: Shanghai Masters and Beijing China Open for men, Wuhan WTA Open especially among ladies.
The Korea Open, in Seoul in October, is the last remaining WTA tournament in Asia.
Stopped in mid-March, the tennis season has still not resumed. The first date on the calendar is the WTA tournament in Palermo, Italy on August 3. The Cincinnati Masters 1000 and the US Open are announced in New York from August 20, but doubts about their possible holding are regularly expressed due to the major spread of the virus in the United States.
© 2020 AFP