Rio Open postponed due to the growing concerns of Coronavirus in Brazil

In wake of the growing concerns of Coronavirus in Brazil, Rio Open, the biggest tennis tournament in South America has been indefinitely postponed. The Organizers said that the current situation is not feasible to organize an event as the safety of the players and fans are the utmost priority. Earlier, the ATP 500 event was also postponed in February to make way for the Australian Open, which was also postponed due to Covid-19. The organizers revealed that the tournament will next be held in 2022

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"Given the uncertain situation surrounding the coronavirus pandemic, the Rio Open... will not be held in 2021," organizers said in a statement.

"We fought to the end to be able to hold the event in 2021, but unfortunately it was not possible," tournament director Luiz Carvalho said in a statement.

Due to the continued uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus pandemic, the Rio Open will not take place in 2021. The 8th edition of the biggest tennis tournament in South America will now be held in February 2022.

— Rio Open (@RioOpenOficial) April 1, 2021

The last edition of the Rio Open was held in February 2020 in Brazil, days before the outbreak of the Coronavirus. Brazil is one of the hardest hit countries in the world by the pandemic and is only behind the United States in terms of most deaths by the virus.

The country is breaking its own record of deaths every day. On Wednesday, the Health Ministry in Brazil reported 3869 deaths in the 24 hours, breaking the record of 3780 deaths on Tuesday. Overall, as many as 321,515 people have died due to the virus while the confirmed cases stands at 12.7 million.