TORONTO – The Toronto Rogers Cup is officially canceled, the organizers announced on Wednesday morning.

The tournament, which was scheduled to take place from August 8 to 16, has been postponed to the week from August 7 to 15, 2021. The Rogers Cup organizing committee has specified that Toronto will host the men’s component in 2021.

Not surprisingly, the health directives imposed by various levels of government and ATP to fight the coronavirus pandemic forced Tennis Canada to make the decision to cancel the event.

This is not surprising, however, given that the female component of the Rogers Cup scheduled for Montreal this summer was postponed to 2021, last April.

The organizing committee for the Rogers Cup in Toronto indicated that it had studied the possibility of presenting the tournament behind closed doors, but stressed that this scenario presented several risks and obstacles – including compliance with a mandatory quarantine of 14 days for all travelers arriving from abroad.

“Organizing an in camera event is complex and requires the implementation of certain important health and operational protocols,” said Gavin Ziv, general manager of the Rogers Cup in Toronto.

“We estimated that to organize such a tournament, we would need to have up to 450 people on site. The safety of these people during the two weeks of the event would have been a concern for Tennis Canada. In the current context, the level of risk would have remained high, especially for a sport like tennis where athletes come from all regions of the world, “added Ziv.

For his part, Ontario’s Milos Raonic said he was disappointed to be unable to participate in the Toronto Rogers Cup this summer.

“I know that Tennis Canada worked very hard and did everything possible to try to make an event behind closed doors possible, because I myself contacted them several times to see how it (the file) progressed said Raonic. It saddens me to know that I won’t be able to play in my hometown in August, but I’m already looking forward to coming back in 2021 and playing in front of a packed house in Toronto. “

Meanwhile, Tennis Canada has indicated that it fully supports the proposal by ATP, WTA and USTA to create a bubble city in New York to host a preparatory event for ATP and WTA in the same location, as well as the United States Open.

“The Washington tournament will be another opportunity (to warm up) for the players, given its proximity to New York,” read the Tennis Canada press release.

On the other hand, the president and director of operations of Tennis Canada, Michael Downey, indicated that his organization forecasts financial losses of around $ 17 million for the year 2020, because of the pandemic of COVID- 19.

Tennis Canada has also asked ticket holders for the 2020 Rogers Cup in Toronto to keep them, as they will be honored at next year’s tournament.