SHANGHAL: Staging the Wuhan Open later this year will send a powerful message about the city鈥檚 recovery from coronavirus and have an impact that stretches beyond tennis, the tournament鈥檚 co-director told AFP.
The central Chinese city was the original epicenter of the pandemic and nearly 4,000 people died from the disease there before it spread worldwide.
But the annual Wuhan Open is now pencilled in for Oct. 19-25 after the WTA this week released its provisional calendar for the rest of the year.
The schedule 鈥渋s conditioned on several key factors鈥� including player safety, government approvals and relaxation of travel restrictions, the WTA said. At present, most foreign nationals are barred from entering China.
Wuhan Open co-director Brenda Perry told AFP the tournament will not go ahead if overseas players cannot come, and that a final decision will be made around early August.
But she added: 鈥淚鈥檓 thrilled for all my colleagues and friends in Wuhan, and what this will mean to the city and the people of the city.
鈥淚t鈥檚 hugely symbolic of overcoming a hugely challenging moment. They went through what seemed to me one of the most stringent lockdowns in the world,鈥� said the 62-year-old, speaking by telephone from Auckland.
鈥淭o come through that and then hold an international professional tennis event would be amazing for morale and show the world the great job they鈥檝e done on recovery.鈥�
Last year鈥檚 Wuhan Open had a nearly $3 million prize fund and a high-quality field, with world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty losing in the semifinals to eventual champion Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus.

But just a few months later Wuhan鈥檚 11 million people were subjected to a harsh lockdown that lasted 76 days and put the city in the global spotlight for all the wrong reasons.
Perry, a former player who was New Zealand鈥檚 No.1, hopes that staging the tournament for a seventh year can help change perceptions.
But she can understand why some players may have reservations about signing up for the tournament, even though Wuhan is now largely back to normal.
鈥淲e probably need to educate, to be honest, what is the reality in Wuhan compared to other cities around the world,鈥� said Perry, who gave assurances that Wuhan鈥檚 tough anti-virus measures have made it a safe place to visit.
鈥淭hey鈥檝e followed such a stringent lockdown and the recovery process has been so cautious and they still have so many protocols in place.鈥�
鈥淚 would be the very first person to put up my hand if I thought it was not safe to be going there,鈥� she added.
Like other WTA tournaments when the coronavirus-ravaged season resumes, starting at Italy鈥檚 Palermo on August 3, Wuhan will have no spectators under current guidelines.