Legend rubbishes Aus Open cancellation reports

Australian tennis great Todd Woodbridge has eased concerns that the Australian Open could be cancelled, suggesting that the tournament is likely to commence in February.

After reports suggested that the tournament could be in doubt, Tennis Australia released a statement saying that a start date for the Australian Open was close to being finalised.

Speaking on 2GB's Wide World of Sports Radio, Woodbridge rubbished reports of a possible cancellation.

"I can tell you that that is most definitely not the case. We are going to have an Australian Open for sure, so that was relieving in itself," he said.

"We can pretty much look towards the beginning of February. We're not, now with quarantine, going to be able to get players on the court for an Australian Open in the dates that were set down originally."

While he was confident about the Australian Open taking place, Woodbridge was less confident about the ATP Cup, which made its debut in the lead-up to this year's Open.

"I don't see that it is possible to have the ATP Cup now," he said.

"It was 24 nations with a chance to play. We're now trying to bring everybody in. They need a tournament to play and you can't get everybody match practice in that week leading into the Australian Open.

"So I think we're going to have to look at a generalised tournament and maybe some different levels of tournament too so that everyone can get some match play before the Australian Open."

Woodbridge suggested that Tennis Australia could look to the lead-up into this year's US Open as a possible solution.

"Logistics are also an issue. It is a big event and getting it up at Melbourne Park would be very difficult," he said.

"I think we're looking at something very similar to what happened at the US Open where they moved the Cincinnati tournament into the New York bubble. They played it there and the week following was the US Open."