The player relief programme will target about 800 singles and doubles players collectively on the men's and women's tours, who are in need of financial support.
* French Open organisers have been in talks with the sport's governing bodies to fine-tune the tennis calendar amid media reports that the Grand Slam tournament is being delayed by a week. French newspaper Le Parisien and tennis website tennis.com reported that the claycourt Grand Slam would start a week later, on Sept. 27.
* The COVID-19 crisis has wreaked havoc on the cycling calendar but female riders were able to celebrate the addition of a new race in 2020 when the International Cycling Union unveiled its revised schedule on Tuesday. The first edition of the Paris-Roubaix women's race will be held on Oct. 25 a few hours before the men's race which is famous for its much-feared cobbled sections.
* Private equity firms CVC Capital Partners and Blackstone Group Inc are in separate talks about investments in Italy's Serie A soccer league, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. CVC is in talks to buy a 20% stake in the league for 2 billion euros, valuing the league at 10 billion euros, the newspaper reported, citing two people briefed on the discussions, which began at the end of last year.
* Players at Serie A champions Juventus were among those who returned to training following the coronavirus stoppage on Tuesday amid suggestions that matches could be played at neutral venues if the league restarts. Some players were filmed and photographed arriving for individual training sessions including midfielder Aaron Ramsey, defender Daniele Rugani - one of three Juventus players to have tested positive for COVID-19 in March - and captain Leonardo Bonucci.
* The British government is looking at the option of restarting sports leagues behind closed doors, foreign minister Dominic Raab said on Tuesday. Asked during a news conference about the possibility of sports matches restarting, Raab said it would "lift the spirits of the nation".
* The Giro d'Italia will start on Oct. 3 and the Spanish Vuelta will be held from Oct. 20, the International Cycling Union said on Tuesday, as it published a heavily revised calendar in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. Four of the top five one-day races will also be held in October, making for a frantic month of cycling following the coronavirus pandemic that has brought almost all of world sport to a halt since March.
* Austria's professional football league will not be able to restart following the coronavirus outbreak if the government insists a whole team must be quarantined in the case of a player testing positive, its managing director told Reuters on Tuesday.
* Barcelona's players will return to their training ground on Wednesday for the first time since early March to undergo testing for the coronavirus as La Liga clubs begin the path back to activity ahead of a planned return to action in June. "The first team will return to the training ground on Wednesday to do the necessary tests before starting individual training in the next few days," the Spanish champions said in a statement on Tuesday.
* English cricket is braced for losses of up to 380 million pounds if no matches are played this summer due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to Tom Harrison, CEO of The England and Wales Cricket Board. The cricket season was due to begin on April 2, but no matches will be played now until the start of July at the earliest.
* England Rugby and Umbro announced a four-year partnership on Tuesday for the UK-based sportswear maker to supply kits for the men's, women's, sevens and age-grade teams from Sept. 1. Umbro will take over from Canterbury as the England team's kit supplier. No financial details of the deal were given.
* The Hungarian professional football season, suspended because of the coronavirus outbreak since mid-March, will re-start on May 23 with two Cup ties and a league game, the country's football federation said. However, the lower divisions would conclude immediately as would all futsal, amateur and junior league seasons, it said in a statement.
