Craig Tiley: For tennis to come back this year it's going to be tough

Tennis Australia Chief Executive Craig Tiley says that it would be tough for the tennis circuit to resume in 2020 in his personal view, in an interview to The Sydney Morning Herald.

Tiley, who was at the centre of the Australian bushfire crisis during this year's Australian Open, commented, "My personal view is I think for tennis to come back this year is going to be tough. It relies on global travel, and I think that’s probably the last thing that’s going to come back. I think sports that have a domestic focus are in a strong position and sports that have a global focus are more challenged.”

Tiley says Tennis Australia is looking at all measures to cut costs and is even looking at the 2021 edition of the Australian Open being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. “We’re looking at that right now. But we’re planning running the AO 2021 and planning on having a great season. We’ve got to plan for the worst and hope for the best. Tomorrow morning we [could] wake up and there is some miracle cure or some concoction of drugs that really helps, or they’re on a path to a vaccine. [But] from all the literature you read, it doesn’t seem likely in the immediate future. What I want to do as an organisation [is] I want to plan for it being really difficult for people to be travelling this year from country to country. I think within the country will be fine. [When] you can travel globally is when tennis can come back, from a pro level. From a local level, we can start right away and that’s what we would be focused on at the beginning.”

Tiley also said that they were several discussions going on with regards to the current tennis calendar after the French Tennis Federation decided to move the French Open to September.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2V5jffz