The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) CEO Steve Simon said that the association had a strategy to deal with the financial pressures caused by the corona virus pandemic that caused all competitions to stop since last March.
CEO named Steve Simon. In fact, all WTA tournaments in China this year were confirmed after the country’s Ministry of Sports said it would not host an international event this year apart from the 2022 Winter Olympics trials.
There are at least seven WTA tournaments to be held in China including the season-ending tournament, the final WTA held in Shenzhen. However, the WTA, which has lost many of the tournaments, will finally be able to start again after a five-month break with the Palermo Ladies Open tournament which begins on August 3.
“WTA is no different from other businesses in this world and everyone is affected financially by this,” Simon told Reuters from the United States.
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“We are devastated, like many other companies too. If we don’t operate and you lose 50 to 60 percent of your year, your finances and income will drop significantly,” he continued.
Even so, Simon said it had drawn up plans and where possible to re-launch the tournament for the world’s elite women.
“Do we have some big financial challenges? Of course. But we have a strategy, we have a plan in place that will allow us to operate,” he said.
Simon, who took over as CEO in 2015, said plans would develop over the rest of the year but had ensured that the body of the WTA itself would survive the economic crisis.
“And from the point of view of the good news, our tournament seems strong and stable too, and is holding on,” he said.
“You never know where you might lose one. But it seems that most of our calendars will remain intact if conditions allow for sporting events to be held in the future,” he concluded.
