One of the World Surf League's most respected commentators, Ronnie Blakey said he doesn't think there will be a world champion crowned this year in a conversation he had with Mick Fanning and Stab owner Sam McIntosh via video conference posted by Stab.

“I think you can confirm that there won’t be a world champion in 2020,” Blakey said, explaining: “I think if the WSL can put a plan in place where they do some events, that would be great. If they do that I think the next decision would be the hardest: Saying to all the surfers who are going to do the events, ‘how do you feel about leaving your home and travelling to the other side of the world to compete’ and I think that would be the key point for the season. I think it’s inevitable that there will be some surfers who say they don’t want to do that.”

Fanning said: “If they can do seven events, men and women, I think you can crown a world champion. But anything less than seven events, I don’t see them being able to crown a champion, it would get to the point where you say, ‘Oh God, you want to be that person. ’”

“If you do five events and a surf off with the best four to eight deciding the world title, I would like to see that and I think the fans would be happy to see it as well,” he also said.

The WSL has cancelled all events on its calendar, including the month of May, and has announced that it will reschedule the G-Land event scheduled for June, but expectations that the pandemic will be under control by then are not high.