The organizers of the Davis cup they must have breathed a sigh of relief when it was played the qualifying round, on March 6 and 7. The coronavirus was already hitting hard, but it had not yet displayed its greatest virulence, and the qualifiers could be played with the only incidence that two of them, in Italy and in Japan, were held behind closed doors. From then until the end of November there was enough time for the storm to subside, they must have thought about the Kosmos company. And so we all thought, much more when the different sports calendars were recomposed. It was not so. The pandemic does not remit and the Davis Cup Finals were canceled At the end of june. There were no guarantees to bring teams from 18 countries together in winter in Madrid. Also, a Davis without an audience is a Davis without a soul. Gerard Piqué received criticism for the decision, especially since the other major event in the capital, the Madrid Open, yes he had managed to relocate in September. Another disappointment. A week ago, the organization that runs Feliciano López lowered the curtain for the same reasons.
Madrid will run out of tennis in 2020. And also without marathon. The popular one on Monday joined the cascade of cancellations around the world: New York, Chicago, Berlin, Rotterdam, Boston, Hamburg, Paris … The sprouts of hope have withered due to the lack of control of the pandemic. Today, it is not feasible to move people across borders, as required the tennis, or congregate thousands of athletes in the streets, as occurs in marathons. Sports damage must be added the economic stick. On the one hand, for the organizers. And, on the other, for the city, which will be deprived of tourist income and the projection of its image. If we add the estimates of these three events, the total of its positive impact for Madrid exceeds 250,000 million. A hard blow. Triple hit.