New York (AFP)
The returning Belgian Kim Clijsters, triple winner of the event, and the British Andy Murray, winner in 2012, have received an invitation to play the US Open from August 31 to September 13 in New York, announced Thursday the American Federation of tennis.
Victorious in 2005, 2009 and 2010, Clijsters, also registered for the Cincinnati tournament, relocated to Flushing Meadows from August 20 to 28, had decided to end her career in 2012 and has been trying to retire for a few months.
The 37-year-old mother of three, she has just taken part in World Team Tennis, a mixed team competition, in West Virginia, after two brief appearances in Dubai in February and then in Monterrey in March.
Seven young Americans, aged between 15 and 23, Usue Arconada, CiCi Bellis, Francesca Di Lorenzo, Caroline Dolehide, Ann Li, Robin Montgomery and Whitney Osuigwe, also benefit from wild cards for the event which will take place behind closed doors.
Among the men, it is another ghost, Andy Murray, who is also invited to the first Grand Slam tournament of a season upset by the coronavirus.
Aged 33, the former world No. 1 fell back to 129th in the ATP ranking following his hip operations which had prompted him to announce his retirement in early 2019. He finally reversed his decision and attempts a return to the highest level.
Winner of three major titles, he has not yet confirmed his participation in the US Open, although he recently confided in "preparing mentally".
Like him, Novak Djokovic is on the board, but the world number 1 has not yet decided if he will take part.
Rafael Nadal has already given up, because of the risks associated with the Covid-19 pandemic, also denouncing a "calendar of madness" while the Masters 1000 in Rome (September 20-27) and Roland-Garros, from September 27.
The other US Open guests are Americans: Ulises Blanch, Maxime Cressy, Sebastian Korda, Thai-Son Kwiatkowski, Michael Mmoh, Brandon Nakashima and JJ Wolf.
© 2020 AFP