Daily Times

LONDON: The ATP Tour on Thursday updated its end-of-year calendar, with six tournaments added to replace the Covid-enforced cancellation of the 2022 China swing for the third year in succession.”ATP has today confirmed the Shanghai Masters, China Open (Beijing), Chengdu Open, and Zhuhai Championships will not take place in 2022 due to ongoing restrictions related to COVID-19,” a statement for the men’s tour announced.”This marks the third year of cancellation for the ATP’s China swing, typically hosted in September and October and last staged in 2019, prior to the pandemic,” it added.

The six new events are in San Diego, Seoul, Tel Aviv, Florence, Gijon and Naples between September 19 and October 23.All six are ATP 250 tournaments, with the men’s tour announcing that two existing 250 events in Astana and Tokyo were being upgraded to 500 level.”All other events for the remainder of the ATP Tour season are currently set to proceed as scheduled,” the statement read, with the season culminating at the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan and ATP Finals in Turin.ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi said: “As a global sport we continue to manage the impacts of the pandemic. Event cancellations are an unfortunate reality.”At the same time, it’s incredibly encouraging to have many great cities step up to host ATP Tour tennis this season.”