The Globe and Mail - 08.04.2020

WEDNESDAY,APRIL8,2020 | THE GLOBE AND MAIL O 1}

The Canadian Grand Prix has be-
come the latest major sports
event in the country to be post-
poned owing to the COVID-19
pandemic.
The Montreal-based Formula
One race was scheduled to take
place June 12-14 before Wednes-
day’s postponement.
Formula One said it hopes to
reschedule the event this year.
Race organizers said in a state-
ment that they were “saddened”
to postpone the race and that the
decision was made in consulta-
tion with Formula One and repre-
sentatives from the City of Mon-
treal, Tourism Montreal and pro-
vincial and federal governments.
“This postponement was not a
decision that was taken lightly or
easily,” the statement said.

The postponement came

hours after the CFL pushed back

the start of its regular season in

June. Last week, another major

Canadian sports event scheduled

for June – the Queen’s Plate at

Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto –

also was postponed.

The RBC Canadian Open, June

11-14 at St. George’s Golf and

Country Club in Toronto, re-

mains on the PGA Tour schedule,

but Golf Canada and RBC said in

a joint statement last week they

are evaluating their options.

The Canadian Grand Prix at-

tracts one of the biggest crowds

in Canadian sports each year.

Last year’s three-day event had

an announced attendance of

307,000.

“At the moment, it is crucial

that all of our energies be put to-

gether to overcome COVID-19,”

race president François Dumon-

tier said in a statement. “We will

welcome you with open arms at

Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve as soon

as it is safe to do so.”

Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante

announced on Tuesday the city

has cancelled all cultural and

sporting events until July 2.

“It is a difficult decision be-

cause Montreal is a known desti-

nation for world class events and

festivals,” Plante tweeted. “And

we will be there to support our

partners.”

The call on the race came

sooner than originally expected.

On March 24, Dumontier said he

expected a decision between

Easter and May 1.

When asked about a possible

postponement last month, Du-

montier said he hoped to hold

the event toward the end of sum-

mer or the start of fall if it

couldn’t be run on its traditional

June dates. Canada was originally

set to be the eighth race on the

Formula One schedule. The first

seven races previously were post-

poned or cancelled.

The Canadian promoters said

they “would have been honoured

to host the first race on the 2020

Formula 1 World Championship

calendar.”

The announcement comes af-

ter F1 said it was working with

promoters on a revised 2020

schedule.

“We have been working closely

with our friends at the Canadian

Grand Prix over the past few

weeks and support them in tak-

ing this necessary decision to en-

sure the safety of fans and the F1

community,” Formula One chief

executive/chairman Chase Carey

said in a statement.

“We always look forward to

travelling to the incredible city of

Montreal and while we will all

have to wait a bit longer, we will

put on a great show when we ar-

rive later this year.”

Organizers say purchased tick-

ets will remain valid and specta-

tors will be informed of their op-

tions once the race is resche-

duled.

Two Canadian drivers – Lance

Stroll of Montreal and rookie Ni-

cholas Latifi of Toronto – have

Formula One rides this season.

Stroll’s Racing Point team and

Latifi’s Williams squad both an-

nounced Monday that their driv-

ers are taking pay cuts with some

staff going on furlough. The Wil-

liams pay cut for drivers is 20 per

cent, while Racing Point did not

disclose an exact figure.

The Canadian Grand Prix

made its debut in 1961 in Bow-

manville, Ont., and has, save

three separate one-year breaks,

been part of the F1 calendar since

1967.

Another major annual Cana-

dian auto racing event – the Hon-

da Indy Toronto on July 10-12 –

still is on IndyCar’s revised sched-

ule, which was unveiled Monday.

“Conversations have been on-

going with Exhibition Place, City

of Toronto, Honda Canada and

IndyCar with the intention to

hold the event on the originally

scheduled date as planned,” the

race said in a statement.

“The event is subject to the

guidance and mandates of feder-

al, provincial and municipal au-

thorities regarding public gather-

ings and travel. The health and

safety of all associated with the

Honda Indy Toronto will remain

the priority.”

THE CANADIAN PRESS

F1postponesCanadianGrandPrix

Decisiontoreschedule

Montreal-basedrace

comesaftercitycancels

allsportingandcultural

eventsuntilJuly2

T

elevised live sports have all
but vanished in the age of
coronavirus, but an unlike-
ly exception emerged recently
on ESPN3: the2020 Platform Ten-
nis World Championship.
The name was rather grandi-
ose for a makeshift tournament
streamed live from a backyard
court in Wilton, Conn. It featured
four little-known men playing a
little-known game at a private
home with no prize money at
stake.
“For platform tennis, it’s the
biggest stage we’ve ever been on
so far,” said Mark Parsons, who
ended up winning the title but
not taking home the trophy.
“The guy who brought the tro-
phy was the only guy allowed to
touch it,” Parsons said. “We were
doing our best to keep the social
distancing.”
With professional and colle-
giate sports shut down just about
worldwide, there is a narrow
window for niche events to seek
some light during the pandemic.
Burke Magnus, executive vice-
president for programming ac-
quisitions and scheduling for
ESPN, said in a statement that
one of the network’s goals was to
entertain fans through “themed
and stunt event programming
that will provide a diversion at a
time that there are virtually no
other live sports to watch.”
Platform tennis – played out-
doors, even in subzero temper-
atures, on a scaled-down tennis
court inside fences that feel
more like a cage – was a new en-
try in a strange and sensitive era
for live competitions. Team and
contact sports do not work well
now. NBA players, NASCAR driv-
ers and cyclists are competing in
video games, and ESPN recently
re-airedThe Ocho, its annual out-
let for zany competitions such as
stone skipping and axe throwing.
There are certainly more at-
tempts to stage live sporting
events. The Big Three, a three-
on-three basketball league fea-
turing some former NBA players,
has ambitions to quarantine cer-
tain players in a house and
broadcast their lives and games.
An exhibition rematch between
golfers Tiger Woods and Phil
Mickelson is being discussed, as
are tennis exhibitions from pri-
vate residences.
Magnus said Monday that
ESPN was also positioning itself
to be ready if international

sports leagues resumed play

ahead of those in the United

States.

“There is clearly a thirst for

live games,” he said. “It may pro-

vide a unique opportunity to in-

troduce fans to events or leagues

that may not have had as much

exposure here.”

Platform tennis has had hard-

ly any mainstream exposure, but

last week it was the only live

event on ESPN3 that was played

on a physical court or a field.

Bob Considine, owner of pad-

dlepro.com, helped organize the

platform tennis tournament on

short notice, and he said he had

worried about being respectful of

the moment and the fears of

fans.

“We didn’t want to be going

against society,” he said. “I was so

nervous the week going into it,

thinking, ‘Am I doing the right

thing? Am I doing the right

thing?’ ”

Despite being fenced in, the

competitors did their best to

maintain distance. To avoid com-

ing within two metres of each

other, they played singles instead

of doubles – the more customary

platform tennis game.

Each competitor wore a glove

on his non-serving hand and

played service games with his

own ball. When it came time to

change ends, they crossed on op-

posite sides of the net and never

tossed a ball to the other player,

instead hitting it with their pad-

dles.

Off the court, they sat far

apart, and no spectators were al-

lowed. The only people in at-

tendance other than the players

were the four members of a skel-

eton television crew. Instead of

bringing in a production truck,

they used the house’s internet

connection, which made for a

spotty stream.

They also had to improvise af-

ter a camera affixed to one of the

fences came loose.

Considine climbed a ladder

and held the camera himself

during the final.

“I was up there for a good

hour,” Considine said. “A little

scary to tell you the truth – 15

feet up there, with those guys

slamming into the fence.”

To keep the number of people

involved down even further,

players doubled as television

commentators, joining play-by-

play man Brad Easterbrook to

discuss the next match after fin-

ishing their own.

Postmatch interviews were

conducted at a considerable dis-

tance.

“I would do anything in the

world to trade this situation for

getting back to normal,” said

Harry Cicma, whose independ-

ent production company staged

the event and made the deal

with ESPN. “But people were

contacting me and were really

sad and depressed they didn’t

have live sports, and I was just

thinking of ways to do it in a safe

way and about the sports that

would work. Football, baseball or

basketball, you need a public

venue. But platform tennis you

can do at someone’s house in a

safe manner, one on one, and we

happen to have the best players

in the world in the New York ar-

ea.”

According to Considine, there

are only “100,000 to 150,000”

platform tennis players in the

world, nearly all of them in the

United States. The hub is in sub-

urban New York; the game was

invented in Scarsdale in 1928.

The world’s No. 1 player, Johan

du Randt, drove down for the

tournament from his home in

Boston.

Parsons, a 40-year-old Cana-

dian, is ranked No. 3 and said he

lived “less than a seven-minute

drive” from where the event was

staged. As with many top plat-

form tennis players, he once

played professional tennis. He

was a member of Canada’s Davis

Cup team.

The tournament was without

several other top players, includ-

ing Jared Palmer, a 48-year-old

American who was ranked No. 1

in tennis doubles and won the

2001 Wimbledon title with Do-

nald Johnson.

Although the competitors had

played little for the previous

three weeks and rarely play sin-

gles, Parsons shook off the rust

to beat du Randt, his former dou-

bles partner, in the final.

When it was over and they

met at the net, there was no

handshake.

Instead, they touched paddles

and then quickly retreated.

“It was strange not to reach

over and give Johan a high-five

ora hug,” Parsons said. “We

played together so long, but

hopefully we can get back soon

to the way things were.”

NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE

Fromonebackyardtomanylivingrooms,platformtennisgoeslive

CHRISTOPHERCLAREY

Playerstakepartinthe2020PlatformTennisWorldChampionshipinWilton,Conn.Competitorspractisedsocialdistancin‚durin‚theevent,worea

‚loveontheirnon-servin‚handandcrossedthecourtonoppositesideswhenchan‚in‚ends.HARRYCICMAPRODUCTIONS/NYT

R

oger Federer offered stuck-
at-home amateurs the ulti-
mate online fantasy camp
of sorts, a chance to get tennis
tips from a guy many consider
the greatest of all time.
While people all over the
world are cooped up because of
the new coronavirus – social dis-
tancing while trying to stay
healthy and help others do the
same – a bunch of athletes have
been posting workouts and drills
on social media with suggestions
for staying in shape.
Federer did that sort of thing,
too, with what he called “a help-
ful solo drill,” but he also took it a
step further Tuesday: He encour-

aged folks to tweet to him their

own videos mimicking the vol-

leying exercise he displayed. And

then he replied to some, even

dispensing a little advice.

Not a bad instructor, eh?

The owner of a men’s-record

20 Grand Slam singles titles pre-

viously posted clips of himself

hitting against a wall in the snow,

including around-the-back or

through-the-leg-’tweener trick

shots.

This time, the 38-year-old Fe-

derer donned an all-white outfit

• perhaps a nod to Wimbledon,
  the grass-court tournament he’s
  won eight times, which was can-
  celled for 2020 last week – replete
  with a white panama hat with
  black band, stood near the green
  wall and volleyed against it.

He tapped the ball more than

200 times during the test of re-

flex and form in the 59-second

video.

Within six hours, Federer’s clip

garnered more than one million

views, and his post drew more

than 1,300 replies.

True to his word, he answered

some.

“Don’t lean back, strong in the

wrist,” Federer wrote to one per-

son. “Keep up the great work.”

To another, in which a man hit

a tennis ball against an indoor

wall while a dog appeared to nap

underneath, Federer answered:

“Love the confidence not to drop

the [tennis ball emoji] on the

[dog emoji].”

To others, he sent verbal pats

on the back, such as, “Good job”

or “Nice work” or “Love the ef-

fort.”

Federer, who had arthroscopic

surgery on his right knee in Feb-

ruary, is waiting along with ev-

eryone else for competitive ten-

nis to return. The men’s and

women’s professional tours are

suspended until at least mid-July

because of the COVID-19 pan-

demic.

The U.S. Tennis Association is-

sued advice last week to avoid

playing the sport with anyone

else right now, calling it “in the

best interest of society to take a

collective pause.”

The USTA noted that there is

“the possibility” that germs

could be transferred among peo-

ple through sharing and touch-

ing of tennis balls, net posts,

court surfaces, benches or gate

handles.

More than 1.3 million people

have been confirmed infected by

the coronavirus around the

globe, and more than 75,000

have died, according to Johns

Hopkins University. The true

numbers are almost certainly

much higher, because of limited

testing, different rules for count-

ing the dead and deliberate un-

der-reporting by some govern-

ments.

For most people, the virus

causes mild to moderate symp-

toms such as fever and cough.

But for some, especially older

adults and the infirm, it can

cause pneumonia.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WantfeedbackfromFederer?Tweethimyourvolleyingvideo

HOWARDENDRICH

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