Roger Federer's hometown tournament in Basel officially cancelled for 2020
Roger Federer has a lot of happy memories at his hometown tournament in Basel. The Swiss legend, who started his tennis journey as a ball-boy at the Swiss Indoors, has won the trophy there a whopping 10 times as a pro.
But with Roger Federer announcing that he is set to miss the rest of 2020 due to injury and the COVID-19 pandemic wreaking havoc with the ATP schedule, there were serious question marks around the Basel tournament. Now, the organizers have officially announced their decision on the event - and it is not good news.
The 2020 edition of the indoor tennis tournament in Basel has been officially cancelled. The organizers had intimated the ATP players association a month ago that it wouldn't be feasible to host the event due to the coronavirus pandemic, and now the players have extended their agreement.
Roger Federer has been a mainstay at the Swiss Indoors in Basel, which features in the list of ATP 500s. This year's tournament, scheduled from 24 October to 1 November in the run-up to the ATP Finals, was supposed to be even more special than usual - it would have marked the 50th edition of the event.
But as fate would have it, that was not to be. Tournament director Roger Brennwald made the announcement yesterday and said:
"Unfortunately Corona doesn't know any friends and possible ghost games or social distancing were out of the question for us right from the start."
It is now remains to be seen whether the other high-profile indoor hardcourt tournaments - namely the Paris Bercy Masters and Vienna - go ahead as scheduled. The Asian swing is anyway set to be cancelled due to the restrictions imposed by the authorities, which would not allow large public gatherings.
Roger Federer - Basel's most decorated and most loved champion
The Swiss maestro has had a hugely successful run at Basel over the years. He made his debut in his hometown tournament in 1998 and has picked up the trophy on 10 occasions overall.
Roger Federer was ranked 396th in the world when he first stepped foot on the Basel indoor courts as a professional tennis player. He lost to former World No. 1 Andre Agassi in straight sets at the first time of asking.
Since then though, the 20-time Grand Slam champion has defeated the likes of Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin del Potro in the Basel finals he has contested. The World No. 4 has amassed a total of 75 match wins at the venue.
Roger Federer picked up a record 10th title in Basel last year, with a straight-sets win over Alex de Minaur in the final. That made him the only player to win a hardcourt tournament on 10 occasions, and also put him in the unique position as the only player to have 10 titles on two different surfaces - the other being on grass in Halle.