With Wimbledon Cancelled, Will The US Open And Roland Garros Also Be Called Off?

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With Wimbledon Cancelled, Will The US Open And Roland Garros Also Be Called Off?
By Ken Miller, Lawn Tennis Analyst, Posted: Sunday, June 14, 2020 12:20pm PST USA

NEW YORK-- Tennis’ two remaining grand slam tournaments this year; the US Open and Roland Garros, both are at risk of cancellation due to the Covid-19 global pandemic which has already seen Wimbledon cancelled.

This year’s Wimbledon tennis tournament; which was scheduled to be contested for two weeks beginning at the end of June in London, England was cancelled by the All England Lawn Tennis Club for the first time since 1866 (World War II).

The All England Lawn Tennis Club; the governing body of Wimbledon, chose to accept a multi-million dollar pandemic insurance policy payout after concluding the grass courts

1991, 1992 US Open Champion Monica Seles of the USA

Could the US Open and Roland Garros be contested with players and minimal staff only and no fans onsite?

and air temperature most likely would not be suitable in October or November; months the Wimbledon Championships may have briefly considered for a rescheduled tournament for this year.

This year’s summer Olympics at Tokyo, Japan has been postponed as well until 2021.

And in a surprise scheduling twist, the French Tennis Federation has rescheduled their clay court grand slam, Roland Garros from beginning May 28th to its new date of September 20th in Paris, France.

This year’s US Open championships are scheduled to begin August 25th in New York City but with the city only three months away from hosting what they say is the toughest tournament in tennis, questions remain.

In the fall, will the Covid-19 pandemic be at its ending stages? Will a vaccine be available for all attending tournament players, staff and fans?

Or could the US Open and Roland Garros be contested with players and minimal staff only and no fans onsite?

A suggestion has also circulated that the US Open could be moved this year from New York City to the less densely populated desert community of Indian Wells, California.

The BNP Barabas Open tennis tournament; which was to be played in Indian Wells beginning March 7th was the first major tennis tournament to be cancelled as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak.

Many of the tournament’s participating professional men’s and women’s tennis players were already in the desert or in nearby Los Angeles when the tournament’s cancellation was announced.

To date all professional tennis tournaments have been suspended at least until August 3rd; however several fan-less exhibition tennis events are being played primarily for television and internet audiences.