The state of the tours
Fortunately, we’re a far cry from the chaos that was March. Tournaments were being canceled left and right, questions without answers were being asked every day (both by us and to us), and the path forward for the ATP and WTA—plus all the fans who travel the world to watch them—resembled an early morning Wimbledon fog.
Today, we have plenty to look forward to in terms of tournaments, and we've been able to watch faces new and old triumph at Slams (albeit virtually). Read on to see what happened and where we're going. When you're ready to travel for tennis again, we’ll be ready.
Big winners
Over the past month or so there's been a diverse group of Grand Slam champions, young and old, new and even newer. Naomi Osaka doubled her US Open tally, while the fourth time was the charm for Dominic Thiem, whose path to the title benefited from an errant shot by Djokovic into a linesperson's neck.
Over in cold, wet Paris, Iga Swiatek announced herself in a big way, rolling over the #1 seed Halep and 2020 Aussie Open champ Kenin, on her way to her maiden Grand Slam title. In a similarly impressive display, Rafael Nadal didn't lose a set and dropped a bagel on the world No. 1, as he once again made a Roland Garros title (his 13th) seem routine.
What's the buzz on social?
To: Rafa From: Fed
Roger had some nice words for Rafa after becoming tied at 20 Grand Slam titles. He posted the following letter on social media.
"Tennis player flees Russia with family"
Not a headline we expected for Sam Querrey, but in a surprising year it's one we got. At the time of writing, Querrey was hiding out at an unknown AirBandB in an undisclosed location. Only in 2020, right? Read the thread on Twitter for a rundown.
The three Querreys were instructed to quarantine for 14 days at their hotel in St. Petersburg.
— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) October 14, 2020
As the St. Petersburg Four Seasons is famous across the tour for being fancy as all heck, this was something the Querrey family was purportedly very ready to obligingly do.
But then, pic.twitter.com/1qOkfzXALV
Something to look forward to
While the future is uncertain, we've heard encouraging things about getting spectators back at events. Larry Ellison has said that if he can't host spectators at Indian Wells, he won't host the tournament. We've also heard Wimbledon is aiming for a minimum of 50% capacity, which would make our Debenture seat options as important as ever.
Later into the year, we expect to host full crowds at the US Open and Laver Cup. We speak for a lot of us when we say we can't wait!
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An update from down under
The latest news out of Australia is that the event might happen, but it will not be one that Grand Slam Tennis Tours will be able to host guests at.
At the moment, Craig Tiley and Tennis Australia are trying to confirm with Australian government and health officials that players will be allowed to enter the country and live in a bio-secure environment where they could train, rather than being expected to stay in a hotel room for 14 days and then go play in a Grand Slam. The Australian Open is part of a broader Aussie Swing, all of which seems yet to be confirmed.
For us, it means we'll watch this one from home and we're excited to head to Melbourne in 2022!
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