In the interests of player health and welfare and following extensive consultation, Tokyo 2020 Olympic Tennis Event matches will begin at 3pm JST from Thursday 29 July #Tokyo2020 #tennis
ITF bows to pressure from likes of Djokovic and Medvedev by moving Olympic Games tennis start times
ATPWednesday, 28 July 2021 at 16:45
The ITF who run the Tokyo Olympic Games tennis tournament have finally obliged player requests of pushing back the starting time of tennis events.
After a long cat and mouse game, the ITF decided to oblige to player requests of pushing back the starting time of tennis matches. Instead of the traditional 11:00 local time, matches will now start at 15:00 local time. The change came after another round of heavy criticism by players and also a medical emergency.
Paula Badosa was forced to retire from her match due to heatstroke as she was carted off from the courts. The images went around the world and have been carried by every major news outlet promoting the Olympic Games and the ITF to react. As well as Daniil Medvedev saying during the next that he could die during his match against Fabio Fognini who himself has been outspoken on the issue.
The decision was explained in a statement:
"In the interests of player health and welfare and following extensive consultation, Tokyo 2020 Olympic Tennis Event matches will begin at 3 pm JST from Thursday, July 29."
ITF explained that the change was made possible by the results of todays matches in all five competitions essentially confirming that the reduced number of matches is making the change possible. A welcome change but a few days late. Matches will start at 08:00 CET.
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