ATP moves up Rome, adds Hamburg, nixes Finals fans

The ATP’s fall schedule is, pardon the pun, falling into place.

If everything goes well.

If the coronavirus doesn’t decide to have a say.

The Internazionali BNL d’Italia, after the cancellation of Madrid, will be moved up one week to take its place, and will have a Monday final. That will be followed immediately by the Hamburg clay-court event in the slot the week before Roland Garros.

And the ATP also announced Friday that its centrepiece event, the ATP Tour Finals, likely will go ahead without fans.

“The ATP remains hopeful that later this year fans will be allowed to return into stadia in a socially distanced manner, following a series of pilot events being undertaken in the UK. If this is confirmed ahead of the Nitto ATP Finals, the intention is to reopen ticket sales for the tournament, in which case more details will be announced in due course.”

Late clay season filling out

Both Rome and Hamburg were rescheduled from their original slots – Rome was in May, while Hamburg – formerly a Masters 1000 tournament, has been more of a one-off large clay-court event after Wimbledon in recent years.

After Roland Garros, the ATP Tour schedule will continue indoors in Europe with St. Petersburg (which will be upgraded to a 500), Antwerp, Moscow, Vienna, the Paris Masters, Sofia and be capped off with the ATP Tour Finals in London.

Those are all indoor events, which bring a particular set of challenges the outdoor tournaments don’t have. So we’ll have to see how each plays out, in each of the various countries involved and in the context of there they stand in fighting COVID-19.

“Tennis is starting to find its way back and, while we must first and foremost look after the health and safety of everyone involved, we are hopeful we will be able to retain these playing opportunities and produce a strong finish to the season,” ATP CEO Andrea Gaudenzi said in a statement.

A quick turnaround from Queen’s to Rome

It’s an ambitious schedule, but would help salvage some of the decimated 2020 season. In contrast, the WTA Tour pickings, at this point, are very slim once the French Open is concluded.

What it means, practically, is that the Rome tournament begins the day after the US Open men’s singles final.

And that means, for those who are planning to play both, the adaptation period will be quick and dramatic. The plus side is that they can try to go after that Masters 1000 title and still have a week before the French Open.

The ATP also is looking try to squeeze more tournaments in before the end of 2020. It is offering the opportunity for prospective entities to be issued a one-year tournament license for this year. So if you ever wanted to try holding an ATP event but found the cost of buying a long-term license too prohibitive, now’s your chance.

The only caveat there, of course, is that there is still a pandemic raging through the planet and you might not even be sure you CAN have it, until you’ve done all the preparation and invested all the money.

As well, the Tour also confirmed that this year’s Next-Gen Finals in Milan, Italy are cancelled.