ITF plans for return of junior, senior, wheelchair and beach tennis

Image courtesy: Reuters

London: The International Tennis Federation (ITF) on Wednesday announced plans for the resumption of play for World Tennis Tour Juniors, Seniors Tour, the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour and the Beach Tennis World Tour.

"The plans have been drawn up in collaboration with each tour`s committee and approved by the ITF Board, with the health and safety of all involved the primary focus in all decision-making," the ITF said in a statement.

Tournaments are currently set to resume on both the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors and the ITF Beach Tennis World Tour in the week commencing on August 31.

"The ITF is working with tournament organisers to produce provisional calendars for the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors and the ITF Beach Tennis World Tour, and it will be available in due course. No firm dates have yet been set for a return to play on the ITF Seniors Tour or the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour, but each tour`s committee has decided that there will be no resumption of play on either tour before the week commencing on August 31," the statement added.

Men`s and women`s events on the ITF World Tennis Tour are scheduled to resume in the week commencing on August 17.

Tournament calendars will remain subject to change in reflection of the ongoing impact of Covid-19. All ITF tours have been suspended due to the pandemic since March this year, with rankings frozen as of March 16.

In order to support a safe return to international tennis tournaments, the ITF has devised protocols for all tournament hosts and participants that aim to mitigate the risk of exposure to, and spread of, Covid-19. 

The protocols will be updated on a regular basis as the global situation regarding Covid-19 continues to change. Any tournament which goes ahead once the tours resume must also follow government requirements, where those requirements go beyond the ITF protocols.

"We are pleased to be announcing steps towards a return to competitive tennis across all ITF tours. This year has been a challenging one for all of us in the tennis world, and while we are all eager to resume the tours as soon as possible in order to restore playing and earning opportunities for players across the world, we must ensure that we take the appropriate steps to make events as safe as possible when they restart," ITF president David Haggerty said.

"We remain in constant communication with our member National Associations and will continue to support event hosts as the tour resumption dates draw nearer," he added.