The COVID-19 pandemic is still not over and it's still impacting tennis as the ATP was forced to cancel its event in China this year.
Many will say it's long overdue because of the Peng Shuai situation earlier this year when the WTA pulled all events from China and ATP refused to join. But in the end, here were are, there won't be any ATP events in China due to the country's severe restrictions because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The country currently has over 220.000 active cases and is set to impose even stricter rules making staging the events very difficult. In a statement, ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi said:
"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. As a global sport, we continue to manage the impacts of the pandemic. At the same time, it's incredibly encouraging to have many great cities step up to host ATP Tour tennis this season"
Instead of those events the ATP will stage several new ATP events in Seoul, South Korea, and Italy with the Firenza and Napoli Open and Tel Aviv in Israel.