ATP chief insists 2020 season could continue despite coronavirus

Andrea Gaudenzi, the head of the ATP, asked fans to not write off the tennis season just yet despite the threat of the coronavirus not letting up by any visible margin.

There has been no competitive tennis played at all since early March as countries fight the coronavirus pandemic, and there is little sign yet of it returning any time soon.

Some players, such as Rafael Nadal, have said they believe no more tournaments will be possible until 2021, but Gaudenzi wants everyone to keep an open mind.

"It would be unwise to call it quits now," Gaudenzi told Reuters. "Nobody knows what will happen, we want to keep an optimistic overview.

"Obviously, there could be a subset of options, which is playing with closed gates or deciding how to deal with travel restrictions.

"But we have not made these decisions so far because they are all hypothetical scenarios."

Gaudenzi did admit, however, that the longer the lockdown continues the more time the ATP Tour will probably have to allow the players to prepare to return.

"We have set a deadline of May 15 for the tournaments in July, post-Wimbledon," he revealed. "And June 1 for the tournaments in August.

"So we are, in principle, dealing on I would say six to eight weeks in advance in time for making a decision.

"Longer than that, it would be foolish to make decisions in my opinion."

- TEAMtalk media