Shanghai (AFP)

Towards an almost white season? The cancellation of all ATP and WTA tournaments in China on Friday by the end of the year due to the Covid-19 pandemic is another blow to the professional tennis circuit, which is struggling to resume after five months off.

Following the cancellation on Tuesday of the Washington tournament which was to mark the resumption of the ATP season, eleven other tournaments will be removed from the list this season: seven for women, including the Masters which should have brought together the best eight players. of the circuit in Shenzhen, and four for men, including the Masters 1000 in Shanghai.

Among the canceled tournaments is also the WTA Open in Wuhan (center), which promised to have a strong symbolic reach in the first city in the world affected by the new coronavirus at the end of last year.

"We are extremely disappointed that our world-class events cannot take place in China this year," WTA boss Steve Simon said in a statement.

This decision is in line with that of the Chinese authorities who had decided to suspend international sports competitions in 2020.

“Since the start of the pandemic, our attitude has always been to follow local decisions,” said ATP President Andrea Gaudenzi.

- Pressure on the US Open -

If the WTA circuit, suspended since March 8, should resume on August 3 in Palermo, the ATP will still have to wait, at least, until August 22 with the Masters 1000 in Cincinnati, which is to take place behind closed doors on the Flushing Meadows site in New York before the US Open.

But these cascading cancellations put additional pressure on the holding of the third Grand Slam tournament of the season, scheduled for the end of August, despite the optimism displayed by its organizers.

"The American Tennis Federation will create a safe and controlled environment for the players and all those involved in the two tournaments, which will mitigate the health risks," the body promised a few days ago.

Many players have already expressed doubts about their coming to a country where the coronavirus pandemic has started again and where the number of positive cases stands at more than 4 million, including more than 140,000 deaths.

- Doubts around Djokovic and Nadal -

"I still don't know if I'm going to play the US Open," Djokovic told Serbian newspaper Sportski Zurnal two weeks ago.

The world No. 1, who contracted the virus in early July on the sidelines of a charity tournament he was organizing in the Balkans, has since tested negative and announced that he would take part in the season on clay, however. "A participation in Roland-Garros is certain, Madrid and Rome are also on my agenda."

The defending champion Rafael Nadal has already announced his presence at the Masters 1000 in Madrid, scheduled for September 13 to 20, at the same time leaving doubt about his participation in the US Open, whose final is scheduled. ... September 13.

The sequence promises to be very complicated, especially since Roland-Garros has been postponed to the end of September (September 27 - October 11) and that the tournament in Rome is being organized in the wake of that in Madrid.

In women, Simona Halep has still not confirmed her arrival, lining up for two tournaments on clay (Palermo and Prague), which will reinforce the uncertainty concerning her presence at the US Open, played on hard surface Furthermore.

Like tennis, athletics has also been forced to cancel the Shanghai Grand Prix, a competition counting for the Diamond League, while the holding of the Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix remains in suspense.

© 2020 AFP