Tennis news - WTA Tour suspended until May 2, three events postponed

The WTA announced on Monday that the tournaments in Stuttgart, Istanbul and Prague will not be held as scheduled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

A WTA spokesperson said in a statement: "Due to the ongoing global coronavirus outbreak, the WTA tournaments in Stuttgart, Istanbul and Prague will not be held as scheduled.

"We regret this is the case for all of our loyal fans, players, sponsors and all those who support women’s professional tennis.

"We will make a decision in the week ahead regarding the remaining WTA European clay court events and will continue to monitor this situation closely and its impact on the 2020 WTA Tour season."

"As a company, we have a societal responsibility," said Oliver Blume, Chairman of the Executive Board of Porsche AG, partners of the Stuttgart tournament. "The decision to cancel the tournament was made in the best interests of the health and well-being of everybody."

‟We would have liked to have presented world class tennis once again this year in the Porsche Arena. The special circumstances unfortunately do not allow this to happen,” added Markus Günthardt, tournament director of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. ‟For us too, the utmost priority is the health of the players, ball-girls, spectators and all the staff."