The 2020 Citi Open tennis tournament has been canceled, event organizers announced on Tuesday.
Organizers cited too many external issues with international travel restrictions and uncertain trends with the coronavirus spiking in several areas across the country.
"After months of tireless work by our team and close collaboration with our many stakeholders, we are heartbroken to announce that we must unfortunately postpone the 52nd Citi Open until the summer of 2021," managing owner Mark Ein said in a release.
" With only 23 days left until the start of the tournament, there are too many unresolved external issues, including various international travel restrictions as well as troubling health and safety trends, that have forced us to make this decision now in fairness to our players, suppliers and partners, so that they can have certainty around their planning."
As Washington D.C.'s annual tennis tournament, this year's event was supposed to mark the restart of men's tennis. The 2020 Citi Open was supposed to be the first event on the ATP Tour since the coronavirus shut down play in early March. The rescheduled start date was Aug. 13.
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A women's tournament field was not set to be held in D.C. after Octagon and WTA decided to hold it at a separate location in Lexington, Kentucky.
The United States currently has issued a travel ban on foreign nationals from several European countries if they have step foot in one of the banned countries 14 days prior. The federal government did make exemptions for professional athletes, however it is unclear if that included coaches, families and other members of a typical traveling party for a start player.
Local officials within the D.C. government were working with the tournament to make special exemptions to the city's coronavirus guidelines for the tournament.
The District is not seeing the same rise in cases like other areas in the United States. However, several American tennis stars live and train in Florida which is considered the epicenter for the virus within the country.
There is now only one event scheduled to take place before the U.S. Open on Aug. 31. The Western & Southern Open, an ATP Masters event, will be hosted at the U.S. Open campus in New York a week prior to the major.
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ATP Tour won't start in D.C. as Citi Open cancels 2020 tournament originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
