2020 ATP Calendar & COVID-19 Impact

ATP Announces 2020 ATP Tour Calendar

Inaugural ATP Cup and Doha will open the new season

March 13, 2019

The ATP has announced the release of its 2020 ATP Tour calendar, a season featuring 63 ATP tournaments across 29 countries, in addition to the four Grand Slams, as well as the introduction of the ATP Cup at the start of the year for the first time. The full 2020 ATP Tour calendar (PDF) can be viewed here.

The 2020 season will kick off with the inaugural ATP Cup, a new team event that has been strategically integrated into the calendar to serve as a major launch to the ATP season. The ATP Cup will take place as a 10-day event in parallel across three Australian cities - Sydney, Brisbane, and one additional city to be announced in due course. The players’ team event, held in partnership with Tennis Australia, will feature 24 countries competing for US$15 million in prize money, the biggest prize purse of any ATP tournament on the calendar, and a maximum of 750 ATP Rankings points at stake.

Other changes in the calendar include:

• The ATP 250 event in Pune, India, moving from week 1 to week 5 in the ATP calendar, alongside Montpellier and Cordoba.
  
• The ATP 250 event in Sofia, Bulgaria, moving from week 5 to week 39 in the ATP calendar, alongside Chengdu and Zhuhai.
  
• The 2020 season also sees the return of Adelaide in week 2 of the ATP calendar for the first time since 2008.
  
• ATP has an open application in process for an ATP 250 grass court event in Europe to take place the week before Wimbledon, currently held in Antalya.
  

The season will culminate with the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Nitto ATP Finals, first held in Tokyo in 1970, as The O2 in London hosts the season finale for a twelfth consecutive year.

“The 2020 ATP Tour calendar will provide a global stage for the world’s greatest players to battle over 11 months for prestigious ATP titles, coveted ATP rankings points, and the ultimate prize of finishing the season as year-end ATP Tour No.1,” said Chris Kermode, ATP Executive Chairman & President. “2020 will also see the launch of the ATP Cup, an event that has all the ingredients to become something very special at start of the season, and we look forward to seeing it come to fruition through our partnership with Tennis Australia.”

In addition, all ATP tournaments on the 2020 calendar will feature the Shot Clock, one of many innovations stemming from the award-winning Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan, a tournament that will continue to serve as a platform to trial innovations and promote the future stars of the sport.

The ATP Tour has attracted record audiences on site, on television and online in recent years with more than 4.5 million fans attending tournaments, and almost 1 billion viewers tuning in throughout the season.

Summary of changes in 2020

Tournaments added:  Adelaide, Santiago, Mallorca, ATP Cup, Laver Cup, Tokyo Olympics
Tournaments moved:  Pune, Umag, Los Cabos, Atlanta, Sofia
Tournaments removed:  Brisbane, Sydney, Sao Paulo, Antalya

Source: ATP Release

Santiago To Host ATP Tournament In 2020

ATP Tour returns to Chile for first time since 2014

November 19, 2019

The ATP today announced that the February 2020 Latin American swing will feature an ATP 250 tournament in Santiago, Chile, replacing the event previously held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, from 2012-2019.

It will be the first time that Chile has hosted an ATP Tour tournament since 2014 in Vina Del Mar (2001-2009, 2012-14), with Santiago hosting a tour-level event between 1993-2000, 2010-11. Event organisers, SACS, which has run three ATP Challenger Tour events in Chile, will work in partnership with Octagon, owners of the tournament sanction.
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The 2020 ATP Tour calendar will also feature five other Latin American events: the Cordoba Open, the Argentina Open in Buenos Aires, the Rio Open presented by Claro and the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC in Acapulco – all held in the month of February – plus the Abierto de Tenis Mifel presentado por Cinemex in Los Cabos in July.

Read more: ATP Release

Coronavirus concerns postpone tournament

Mar 8, 2020 - ATP Press Release

The Riverside County Public Health Department has declared a public health emergency for the Coachella Valley after a confirmed case of coronavirus (COVID-19) locally. As a result, the 2020 BNP Paribas Open will not take place at this time due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus and the safety of the participants and attendees at the event. This is following the guidance of medical professionals, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and State of California.

“There is too great a risk, at this time, to the public health of the Riverside County area in holding a large gathering of this size,” said Dr. David Agus, Professor of Medicine and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Southern California. “It is not in the public interest of fans, players and neighboring areas for this tournament to proceed. We all have to join together to protect the community from the coronavirus outbreak.”

“We appreciate the proactive stance tournament organizers are taking to ensure public health and safety,” said Martin Massiello, Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer, Eisenhower Health.

“We are very disappointed that the tournament will not take place, but the health and safety of the local community, fans, players, volunteers, sponsors, employees, vendors, and everyone involved with the event is of paramount importance,” said Tournament Director Tommy Haas. “We are prepared to hold the tournament on another date and will explore options.”

Any patron who has purchased tickets directly from the tournament may request a refund for the 2020 tournament, or a credit for the 2021 tournament. Patrons can visit the BNP website to request a refund or credit.

Indian Wells site to remain open for players

By Stephanie Myles - Tennis.life
March 8, 2020


INDIAN WELLS, Calif. – The ramifications of the cancellation of the BNP Paribas Open have not even yet been quantified. But they are many and myriad.

At this point, a lot of players, officials and media still hadn’t even arrived in the desert. So there are a lot of plans to change.

And what of the players who are here? At this point, they’re kind of homeless. Not only did most of them have no plans to leave Indian Wells for at least a week, now they don’t even know where they should go, if they do leave.

Because you have to think that the Miami Open is next on the list.  Already, the Ultra Music festival in Miami had been cancelled this week. So if that’s the case, where are they all even going to go, or do for the next month?

I’m shook

— Denis Shapovalov (@denis_shapo) March 9, 2020

The Ultra festival – Abu Dhabi edition – scheduled for last weekend was also cancelled. It’s worth noting that most of the top tennis players in the world went through that part of the world over the last few weeks. And now they have spread out all over the place.

That’s the insidious part of how a virus like this can spread around the planet. Indian Wells is the first big tournament to be cancelled. But it’s highly likely it won’t be the last.

Whattttttt ?!?!?!?  https://t.co/OCARjLXO1D

— EdouardRogerVasselin (@ERogerVasselin) March 9, 2020

When Tennis.Life approached the coach of a WTA player, as the group was walking back from the practice courts, for a comment about the cancellation of the tournament. he thought we were making it up. Didn’t believe me. And then, once the evidence was produced, everyone immediately wondered about the fate of the Miami Open. A legitimate question.

One member of a player’s staff (no clue who he was, but he had a credential), walked off saying, “It’s just a COLD.” So, yes, there’s that too.

From what we’ve been told, the tournament site will remain open for most of the week so the players can practice. The food services and such for the players will be maintained as well. But there’s not much that anyone really knows about how this all will play out.



All the employees hired for the two weeks. All the volunteers. All the security staff. All the court maintenance people. Everything.

All of the costs borne by players and their teams to even get here (not to mention the media) – and especially the fans who made travel plans and invested a significant sum in making the trip. All tickets purchased will be refunded, of course. But that doesn’t cover the rest of the costs involved in travelling to the tournament.

There’s been a lot going on here on site over the last few hours. The tournament has met with the player councils of both tours. We may well get more details Monday. But it might take awhile to sort all this out.