WTA Chief Steve Simon on if conditions are not met during restart: "We will not hesitate to shut down"
Tennis NewsFriday, 24 July 2020 at 12:43
The WTA Tour will resume next month with multiple events in countries such as Italy and Czech Republic which are among the safest now amidst the Coronavirus pandemic but WTA Chief, Steve Simon will 'not hesitate to shut down' should it go wrong.
Simon is confident that it will go well but of course there is apprehension and like in other sports, it is all about redressing a balance and giving as many players the chance to return to their livelihoods as possible.
“I’d say there’s definitely an excitement to get back to doing what we love,” Simon told Reuters.
“Obviously there’s been a lot of hard work that’s been done by the tournament promoters; as well as the team to get us to this stage. So we’re going into this with great hopes.
“And hopefully we’ve found a solution that will allow tennis to operate in this environment.”
“I think our first three events — Palermo, Prague and Lexington — will certainly create that pathway for us.
“Where we got to was, unless everybody can travel nobody plays? Or do we try to find opportunities for all of those that can play and feel comfortable playing?” Simon explained.
“And we got to the balance: We should be trying to get as many jobs and as many opportunities for as many people as we can to continue our sport.
“Obviously, if we don’t think the balance is right; or we think the conditions have changed and it’s not safe, (or) we don’t like what’s happening due to the challenges we have; we will not hesitate to shut down.”
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AceOfBase06-05-2024 - Iga never gets an easy draw in any tournament she plays. So that statement is far from the truth. Sabalenka has difficulty because all she wants to do is stand up and serve. She is not a tennis player. If she gets the opponents Iga have, she would be ousted earlier.crissy06-05-2024
- Trickery. Playing the system seems to be a way of life in general these days.
mandoist05-05-2024 - Just be honest... This era of pro sports "couples" are merely easy hookups for sex while on the Tour. Like Hollywood and music biz (except they call it "dating")mandoist05-05-2024
- Piece of cake for Djoko like this :-)AceOfBase05-05-2024
