Tennis Australia took out insurance to protect itself from the enormous financial hit a pandemic would inflict on its marquee event – January's Australian Open grand slam tournament – but the policy expires in July.

As world sport continues to grapple with the drastic and sudden impact of coronavirus in 2020, tennis and its various governing bodies and stakeholders are having to reshape the calendar and prepare for contingencies that include playing the game without spectators.

2020 Australian Open men's champion Novak Djokovic. The 2021 tournament remains uncertain. Credit:Getty Images

Already Wimbledon has been cancelled for the first time since 1945, the French Open has been rescheduled for late September, and the US Open is persisting with plans to stage its tournament as normal in August in New York, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak in the States.