WTA schedule set to bring women's tennis to Palermo, New York, Istanbul, Madrid, Rome, Strasbourg, Paris, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Guangzhou, more
The global coronavirus pandemic has played havoc with not only our daily lives, but professional sports in general. Now, the tennis world is making plans to reopen their sport, with both the men’s and the women’s separate Tours ready to start in August. The WTA, or Women’s Tennis Association, has published their new schedule, which is now set to re-open on Aug. 3, 2020 in Italy at the 31 Degrees Palermo Open.
After the start in Italy, there are two weeks which, as of now are left blank on the new schedule, and then the Tour enters the United States with both the Western and Southern Open and the U.S. Open being played at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center from 8/21 (Western and Southern) and 8/31 (U.S. Open) to Sept. 13. The WTA also has a small tournament currently scheduled to be played during the second week of the Open in Istanbul, from Sept. 7-13. Since the official WTA announcement has not included the Rogers Cup, a traditional U.S. Open lead-in tournament held in either Toronto or Montreal as the Canadian Open on each successive year, it is my guess that that tournament will be abandoned for both the WTA and the ATP Tours this year.
After Istanbul and NYC, the WTA Tour looks a lot like the ATP Tour, with a couple of exceptions, as the women will not see more events overlapping each other until Nov. 2, with the current exception of Sept. 21, when the players can choose between playing in the Italian Open or in Strasbourg. The women will barnstorm into Europe for the Madrid Open, to start on Sept. 14—the day after the U.S. Open terminates, and then they can play in either Rome or Strasbourg on Sept. 21. From there, it’s onto Paris, for Roland Garros, and then off to Asia, where the Korea Open is slated for Oct. 5.
The WTA is scheduled to stay in Asia for pretty much the rest of the year, except for the week of Nov. 2, when the players could stay in Asia for the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, or travel to Moscow for the Kremlin Cup. The prior week, Oct. 26, when the Zengzhou Open is set to take place, the schedule also has a spot for an alternative tournament to be played concurrently, as yet undecided. The WTA winds up with tournaments in Shenzhen (11/9), Zhuhai (11/16), and Guangzhou (11/23).