It looks like tennis–the actual tours, not just popup exhibition events–will continue in 2020. With other major sports returning throughout the world, the ATP and WTA tours obviously don’t want to get left behind.
And the USTA doesn’t want to, either.
The combination of those factors has led to the USTA maintaining hope that the U.S. Open and other American-based tournaments will proceed this year. Tennis executives have been meeting on the 15th of every month, and until now those discussions have resulted in nothing but cancellations. On June 15, however, there were finally no more axes brought down. It was announced on Monday that the U.S. Open at New York’s Billie Jean King National Tennis Center still has the green light.
“We’re ready to move forward as long as we get all the approvals we need,” USTA spokesman Chris Widmaier assured. “At the end of the day, there are three factors involved in the decision-making. No. 1 is creating a plan that has health and safety at the forefront; No. 2 is whether conducting the U.S. Open is the right thing for the sport of tennis; and No. 3 is whether it can be done in a financially viable manner. We believe we can hit all three of the objectives. But we do need to approach this in a step-by-step manner, and when all of the steps are completed, that is when we can make an official announcement.”
An official announcement could come on Wednesday along with the proposed schedule for the remainder of the 2020 season. The current plan is for the Western & Southern Open (normally in Cincinnati) to take place in New York at the exact same location as the U.S. Open, so that players can stay in a “bubble” for three weeks. That would allow the Citi Open in Washington, D.C. to assume Cincinnati’s previous spot on the calendar and begin on Aug. 16. The French Open is scheduled for week after the U.S. Open ends, starting in late September and continuing in early October.
All of this remains a question mark right now (the USTA is awaiting confirmation from New York government officials), but Monday’s announcement at least offers some hope.
“Our stated goal has been that, if we could build a plan in conjunction with medical and security experts that mitigated the risks of COVID-19 and assured the health and well-being of all U.S. Open participants, we very much want to move ahead with the tournament,” Widmaier concluded. “We believe, by working in the collaborative manner with these experts and the two tours, we have such a plan.”
update: NY governor confirms US Open is on
Great news for the summer hard court season!
Pity about RG a week later , though .I wonder which one the defending champ will concentrate on…
Im still gutted theres no Wimbledon .
all the top guys will play both
Apart from Federer.
It’s no time to adjust between surfaces but everyone in same boat
Is Rafa going to take part? He said he had ” little desire” to go there. Nole also has made some negative comments. Maybe Rafa will skip it to focus on RG. Halep.has already said she will only play in Europe and I expect a number of big names to follow suit.
France has a much better grip on the virus than the US.
If a substantial number of the top players don’t go then the trophy will be considerably devalued.
I guess Indian Wells is gone for this year, new batch of COVID cases.
US OPEN….let’s play!
RG to start a week after USO finishes. RG *will* have a week of qualies – Yay! for that!! So direct entry players will have approximately 2 weeks to adjust to clay after USO.
I feel badly about USO not having qualies but aside from that, and making the very large assumption that NYC doesn’t see a spike in covid cases during the summer, it should all be workable if hardly ideal.
Now we have to wait for the players to weigh in.
I will be surprised if Rafa plays. Yes it’s a slam and 2k ranking points but it’s very close to RG and fraught with risk. If he tests positive for the virus he would be stuck in the US! I wonder if Dom will play given his record at RG.
The tests aren’t infallible and it could easily happen that a number of players become infected.
On the other hand, if Rafa Thiem, Fed and maybe others aren’t there then it’s a massively increased incentive for others to go as their chances of winning increase exponentially. Imagine if Nole also doesn’t play!
What’s your gut instinct about Rafa playing Ramara?
My gut instinct is pretty worthless, but I think he’ll play but he won’t be happy about anything that limits the number of players participating.
Hope all is well with you and yours.
I see that the atp has just released the Masters schedule for Madrid and Rome to start on the 13 September. It’s asking a lot for Rafa to play 6 weeks solid if he plays USO, Madrid, Rome, Rg. I can’t really see it given his previous recent comments that he has ” little desire “to go to NY for the USO.
Halep has already said she will only play in Europe and I don’t suppose she will be the only top player to make this decision.
I hate the idea of Rafa having to miss out on a slam if he doesn’t go…
two weeks now