'Shenzhen Open and Maria Sharapova have not reached agreement for 2020'
The Shenzhen Open Tournament Director Luiz Carvalho spoke about the Chinese event that will take place from 4 to 11 January 2020. Maria Sharapova and Simona Halep played the event in the past years but it will not happen next year. Carvalho said: "We always try to have the best possible field but we are very satisfied. We have Belinda Bencic who had such a great season and she is on such a high, she got closer to reach the final in Shenzhen WTA Finals, she is very popular in China, we also have the defending champion Aryna Sabalenka. We have six Chinese players who have a direct entry which never happened in Shenzhen."
Asked specifically about Sharapova, who competed both in 2018 and 2019, Carvalho added: "Sharapova is connected to IMG, we are an IMG event and we always talk to them. We did not really come to an agreement. She is maybe trying something new and we also tried to look for new players. Sharapova had played twice. It's okay. We are not sad she is not coming back. We have Muguruza as well."
Carvalho said he will try to bring Rafael Nadal back to the Brazilian event in the future. Nadal played thrice in a row in Rio, from 2014 to 2016, winning the title on the first year of the event. Speaking of the 19-time Grand Slam winner, Carvalho said: "For sure. We will ask him to play in Rio until he retires and probably even after he retires just to be part of the event. The event was very successful during the first three years with him. It really depends on his schedule. Rio loves him."
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/349Nh2N
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