ATP makes changes to COVID-19-affected schedule, remains hopeful of fans attending season-ending Finals

London: The Italian Open is shifting to a week earlier than originally planned in September, and the Hamburg European Open — scrapped in July because of the coronavirus pandemic — will follow it on a provisional ATP calendar for the rest of the 2020 men’s tennis season. The season-ending ATP Finals in London are still slated for 15-22 November, without spectators. But the ATP said Friday it “remains hopeful” that will change and some fans will be allowed to attend. The clay-court tournament in Rome is taking over the week when the Madrid Open was supposed to be played before it was canceled due to to the COVID-19 outbreak. So the Italian Open now will start 14 September, the day after the US Open is scheduled to end in New York, and will finish on 21 September, a Monday. That’s the same day play will start in Hamburg. The French Open begins in Paris on 27 September. That will be followed by tournaments in St Petersburg, Russia; Antwerp, Belgium; Moscow; Vienna; Paris; and Sofia, Bulgaria, before the ATP Finals. The tour said it is still considering ways to add more tournaments this season. ATP play was suspended in March because of the pandemic and is slated to resume next week in New York with the Western & Southern Open, an event usually played in Cincinnati but moved to the site of the US Open this year.