By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, January 5, 2021

 

The 2021 WTA season launches in Abu Dhabi this week.

Photo credit: Mark Peterson/Corleve

The WTA presents a path forward for the first half of 2021.

The Tour today released its 2021 calendar through Wimbledon, which concludes July 11th.

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The season starts this week in Abu Dhabi. Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin, Elina Svitolina, Karolina Pliskova, Aryna Sabalenka and Garbine Muguruza headline the field for the Abu Dhabi WTA Women's Tennis Open.

The WTA previously announced its schedule for the first seven weeks of the season up through the Australilan Open set for February 8-21st.



The revised provisional calendar features the first four WTA 1000 events of the year:

*Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, starting March 8th

*Miami Open, starting March 22nd

*Mutua Madrid Open, beginning April 26th

*Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome starting May 10th.

The Coronavirus pandemic put up a roadblock on the 2020 season suspending play for six months. As vaccines are slowly being introduced, COVID-19 continues to impact the pro circuit.

The BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells will not be staged in its traditional March time slot.  Aternatives are being assessed for a potential date later in the season with Indian Wells potentially moving to a September slot in the schedule after the US Open.



The WTA said another calendar announcement, including information on the WTA Finals Shenzhen, will be forthcoming.