LONDON (AP) - The Cologne Open and the grass-court tournament in Den Bosch have been canceled as part of WTA calendar changes announced Friday.
The German tennis federation said the Cologne event was canceled because of the worsening virus situation. It had been scheduled to start May 15.
The Libema Open in ’s-Hertogenbosch was called off because of the pandemic and because the start of the French Open was recently pushed back a week. The combined ATP-WTA Wimbledon warm-up tournament had been slated to begin June 5.
Libema Open director Marcel Hunze said the current restrictions made it impossible to host fans.
“Without the presence (of) enthusiastic fans the characteristic atmosphere of Libéma Open is missing,” Hunze said in a statement. “The decision of Roland Garros to move up a week would have further impacted our event.”
Also, the tournament in Washington was moved to Gdynia, Poland, and changes from hardcourt to red clay. The event is scheduled from July 19-25.
The tournament in Prague was moved from May to a July 18 start and changes from clay to hardcourt. Serbia will host a tournament in Belgrade from July 26-Aug. 1 that was originally scheduled for Anning, China.
A hard court tournament was added in Cleveland for Aug. 23-29, leading up to the U.S. Open.
The WTA said it has expanded the number of smaller tournaments in a bid to provide more playing opportunities as the sport continues to come back from the pandemic.
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