Local No 1 Eudice Cong has missed her last chance to play competitive tennis ahead of her return to the WTA Tour, with many of the city’s top players lamenting the postponement of the Hong Kong Championships. Chong has been unavailable for Hong Kong’s most prestigious domestic tournament over the past few years due to her overseas studies. And she was hoping to make up for those absences by winning this year’s crown and boosting her confidence ahead of her return to the Tour in August. Organisers of the Victoria Park event, the Hong Kong Tennis Association, said this week the tournament would be postponed until further notice because most sports facilities have closed as the city battles a spike in Covid-19 cases. Chong, while disappointed, agreed the safety of players and everyone else involved should come first and said organisers did the right thing by postponing the tournament. Pandemic a huge worry for HK sport, says victorious Cody Wong “I was looking forward to playing the [Hong Kong] Nationals and being able to have some competitive matches again,” said Chong, ranked 376 in the world in singles and 158 in doubles. “Because of my earlier injury, it prevented me from playing at the CRC Elite Invitational, and my goal was to recover well and train hard for the Nationals. “Even though I am disappointed with the postponement, I also know it is for the safety of everyone, so I can only hope we can all recover from this situation.” Chong played her first match since March at the Elite Invitational earlier in July, but withdrew as a precaution after winning her first group match because of injury. The 24-year-old is still unsure when she can fly out of Hong Kong for tournaments, but said she would be prepared and ready to compete once given the green light. Cody Wong Hong-yi, who won the women’s CRC Elite Invitational after defeating Maggie Ng Man-ying in the final, said she was upset at losing the chance to play more matches in her build-up to the French Open junior events. Elite Invitational Tournament kicks off local calendar as pandemic eases The 18-year-old is in her last year as a junior after reaching the quarter-finals at the Australian Open junior tournament in January. Wong hoped to capitalise on the result to break into the world’s top 10 but she was denied the chance after Wimbledon was called off because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The US Open has no junior events and her only hope for competition is at the rescheduled French Open, due to start in late September. “We still haven’t heard anything on the French Open yet and I will have to keep practising at the Sports Institute to prepare,” she said. Former Hong Kong No 1 Zhang Ling was also worried about the pandemic and was looking forward to playing again in the domestic tournament. Zhang last played in the ITF series in Tunisia in February and has not competed for almost six months. The premier professional event in the Hong Kong tennis calendar – the annual Prudential Hong Kong Open normally held in October – has also been dropped from the calendar. But Hong Kong Tennis Association president Philip Mok has said there was a chance to of holding the tournament in December, depending on the pandemic situation.