The Mutua Madrid Open officially announced the cancellation of its 2020 edition. The increasing number of Covid-19 flare-ups Spain has been suffering lately has forced organizers and local authorities to pull the plug on the joint event.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have given our all to stage the tournament,\u201d said tournament director Feliciano L\u00f3pez in an official statement<\/a>. \u201cAfter the first cancelation in May, we got to work on the September date with the hope of being able to enjoy first-class tennis in the Caja M\u00e1gica<\/em> during this year which has been so hard for everyone. However, the continued instability is still too great to hold a tournament like this in complete safety.\u201d<\/p>\n Thus, the tennis calendar is devoid of yet another prominent tournament, a Masters 1000 on the men\u2019s side and a Premier Mandatory on the women\u2019s end. While it\u2019s still unclear what the ATP & WTA are going to do about their respective schedules the week after the US Open<\/a>, both chairmans, Andrea Gaudenzi and Steve Simon, expressed their disappointment but their understanding upon Madrid\u2019s cancellation.<\/a><\/p>\n It\u2019s a tough pill to swallow for tennis fans in Spain, one of the most affected nations by the coronavirus early on. However, since the lockdown ended, a bunch of tournaments had been safely organized throughout the country. There were no signs of a potential cancellation until this past weekend.<\/p>\n Sure, the Mutua Madrid Open is a whole different animal compared with smaller events such as Liga Mapfre<\/em>, IBP Tennis Series, Copa del Rey<\/em>, or some regional championships. The MMO entails a myriad of logistical and sanitary challenges. Yet, it\u2019s curious how contact sports like soccer or basketball managed to finish their professional leagues whereas Madrid cannot host its premier tennis tournament.<\/p>\n Now that Madrid has been called off, Rafael Nadal, who revealed he would be skipping the U.S. swing<\/a>, is expected to return to action in Rome.<\/p>\n Main Photo:
\nEmbed from Getty Images<\/a>