Canada\u2019s Davis Cup tennis tie against Israel this weekend will be played without spectators due to safety concerns stemming from the war in Gaza, Tennis Canada announced Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The organization said the matches in Halifax will go ahead in a broadcast-only format after consultations with local authorities and national security agencies. The International Tennis Federation approved the move.<\/p>\n
\u201cTennis Canada acted in light of escalating safety concerns,\u201d the group said in a statement. \u201cIntelligence received from local authorities and national security agencies, combined with disruptions witnessed at other recent events both in Canada and internationally, indicated a risk of significant disruption to this event.\u201d<\/p>\n
The tie will still be available to fans on online platforms, the statement said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEnsuring the safety of everyone involved, including athletes, fans, staff, volunteers and minors such as ball kids, remains our top priority,\u201d Tennis Canada said.<\/p>\n
Chief Executive Officer Gavin Ziv called the outcome \u201cvery disappointing\u201d but said the decision ensures the event can still be held in Halifax.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were forced to conclude that playing behind closed doors was the only way to both safeguard those involved and preserve the event itself,\u201d Ziv said. \u201cWhile this outcome is very disappointing, it allows the tie to proceed in Halifax and ensures that our athletes can continue to compete at the highest international level.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canada\u2019s Davis Cup tennis tie against Israel this weekend will be played without spectators due to safety concerns…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":133262,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":{"0":"post-133261","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}