Sports calendar still under pressure due to Trump’s theft measure | Other sports

By Rik Spekenbrink

President Trump announced yesterday that from tomorrow evening there will be no more flights for 30 days between the United States and European Schengen countries. He hopes to keep the “ foreign coronavirus ” as much as possible.

What does this mean for sport? A series of matches and tournaments have of course already been canceled in recent weeks. And there will undoubtedly be many more events. For example, it has become even more unlikely that the practice match between the Netherlands and the United States on March 26 in Eindhoven could take place.

Tennis is faced with probably the most complicated puzzle. Just like Formula 1, it is a traveling and global circus, with only several tournaments spread over different continents each week. The Indian Wells Masters Tournament was called off at the last minute last week. The Miami Masters tournament is scheduled for March 23. In the unlikely event that the event does take place, European players will only be able to participate if they are already in the United States now, will not enter the country from the weekend, or will have to find a creative solution by flying via another country. After Miami, ATP and WTA tournaments are scheduled in Charleston, Houston, Marrakech and Bogota before the next big tournament in Monte Carlo. The most obvious solution, which could be ratified later today, therefore seems to be to delete all tournaments for the next 6 weeks. Novak Djokovic, a member of the players’ council, did not wait for official reports and quickly left America for Europe.

But there are more sports with logistical problems. Today, the players’ championship, a major international golf tournament, begins in Porte Vedra. Followed in a few weeks by The Masters in Augusta. Of course with many European participants at the start, normally. The 11 European drivers of the Indy Car series will have to spend the necessary time in America between the first race (next Sunday) and the second (April 5). And how should European riders, Amazons and their horses get to Las Vegas in time for the Dressage World Cup final, scheduled for April 15?

Conversely, American cyclists and cycling teams will not be able to return home in the coming weeks. That shouldn’t be a problem, with a series of matches on European soil, but of course they’re all uncertain. If not canceled, the Rotterdam marathon will have to do without the Ethiopian runners. But the core group of Americans will not appear initially either.

For example, the list of postponed and canceled sporting events will only grow further in the coming days.