Feliciano Lopez believes that players will have to accept wage cuts and face up to this reality for the ATP to potentially survive the Coronavirus crisis.

Lopez is both a player and a tournament director for the Madrid Open so can see it from both sides and believes that without tournaments, the future is potentially bleak.

“I’m talking as a player now – but I’m also a tournament director and I am able to see the reality, to see how tough it is to survive in this crisis. It is hitting everyone.

It’s tough to break even. This is what the players need to understand. It is really urgent that everybody plays. But, if we don’t have tournaments, it’s possible the ATP is not going to survive either. We need to stay together. It is the only way to survive.”

“There are different scenarios. One, where you don’t have spectators at all, so the reduction [in prize money] is going to be more significant; the other is where you can have 30% or 40% of spectators, and then the reduction would be less.”

“I think in two weeks or so, the borders and the airports are going to start opening up, and we’re going to be able to travel freely – I hope. We have to consider that there are different restrictions in Europe. For example, it is not the same in Austria as in Germany. We’re working on that.”

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