On Tuesday, the ATP released an update to the schedule for the beginning of the 2021 season. This update is for weeks 8-13 on the calendar, with tennis’ governing body still forced to work around the covid-19 pandemic. This is the second update to the calendar after the schedule for the first seven weeks of the season was revealed earlier this month.
In February, the Maharashtra Open in India has been postponed, whilst the New York Open has been cancelled, but the Cordoba Open and Montpellier’s Open Sud de France remain on the slate. In March, the focus will be on the lead into the ATP Masters 1000 Miami Open, which was not contested in 2020, with events in Europe, South America, and the Middle East.
That includes the Golden Swing in South America, one of the most important clay-court swings on the ATP Tour. However, the ATP 500 Rio Open, the crown jewel of the Golden Swing will not be held in 2020, which is doubtless a blow to the many South American clay-courters.
The only tournament so far not scheduled for March is the ATP Masters 1000 Indian Wells. There are still hopes that this tournament, amongst the most prestigious on the regular ATP Tour, can be played later in the year and further updates will be provided in due course.
Fortunately, the rest of the month looks pretty intact with almost every tournament that would usually be played in March still scheduled to take place. The ATP will continue to update the schedule as soon as possible.
It is currently looking for more options globally to offer a one year license for 2021 to add more events to the calendar. This is a continuation of the policy adopted by the ATP Tour in the closing weeks of the 2020 season which saw tournaments added to the schedule across the globe, including in Sardinia, Kazakhstan and Germany.
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