As the US Open 2020 approaches, the list of tennis players who refused to participate in the tournament is growing. In the near future, it may be replenished with a number of eminent athletes.
According to Spanish media reports, the leaders of the rating of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) have threatened to withdraw from the tournament if the organizers do not agree with the authorities of European states on mitigating measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus. In particular, this concerns the rule according to which citizens of these countries are required to quarantine after arriving from the United States. This requirement was voiced at a virtual meeting, which was attended by leading athletes, representatives of the ATP and the United States Tennis Association (USTA).
The names of the tennis players are not named, but it is clarified that we are talking about the top twenty in the world men's ranking. At the same time, it was previously reported that the Serb Novak Djokovic was seriously thinking about refusing to participate. In addition to the difficulties associated with traveling to America, he is not satisfied with the fact that a US Open participant will be disqualified if a member of his team, who lives with him in the same room, passes a positive test for COVID-19.
The tennis associations are already in talks with the USTA to provide relief for European players. However, at the moment, nothing is known about specific solutions.
At the same time, new additions to the US Open medical protocol were announced. In particular, all its participants will be in a special security zone, leaving which will be strictly prohibited. The same goes for their escorts. Violation of this rule may result in disqualification.
At the moment, one of the main losses in the men's section of the grid was last year's winner Rafael Nadal. He admitted that such a decision was not easy for him, but the unstable epidemiological situation in the world forced him to refuse to defend the title this year.
“The US Open is still a significant tournament, I don’t have the nerve to say the opposite just because I will not play there. Indeed, it will be held under special circumstances, and many important athletes will not be there. But it still remains a Grand Slam tournament, and the winner will be considered the winner of the Grand Slam tournament, ”journalist Tom Ellnutt quoted Nadal as saying.
Thus, for the first time since 1999, two legends will not play at the US Open at the same time - Nadal and Roger Federer, who miss the rest of the season due to injury. At the same time, the Spaniard announced his intention to participate in Roland Garros, scheduled for late September - early October.
At the moment, among those who refused to come to New York are Swiss Stan Wawrinka, French Gael Monfils, Italian Fabio Fonigny, Australian Nick Kiryos. As for the women's part of the net, after much deliberation, the first racket of the world, Ashley Barty, the Chinese woman Qiang Wang, the Russians Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Anastasia Potapova were shot.
Svetlana Kuznetsova is considering this opportunity for herself.
“I have huge questions about the US Open, to be honest. I don’t understand what to do, because the borders are still not open for many. Moreover, the conditions of stay will be complicated: you need to take a coronavirus test, sit in a room, not go anywhere, and all this for a month ... I think this is very risky. That is why I have great doubts about this tournament, ”Kuznetsova admitted in an interview with Glamor.
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Publication from US Open (@usopen) Aug 4, 2020 11:02 am PDT
Despite the skeptical attitude of a number of tennis players, the organizers of the tournament in New York still not only expect to hold it on time, but also hope for a large representation of highly rated players. So, in the men's application there are Djokovic, Dominic Tim, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev and others. The women's draw is to be led by Simona Halep along with the rest of the top ten, including Serena Williams. In addition, Briton Andy Murray and Belgian Kim Clijsters, who returned to the sport this season after an eight-year hiatus, received the wild card.
At the same time, President of the Russian Tennis Federation (FTA) Shamil Tarpishchev sees other problems regarding the 2020 US Open.
“By definition, the current US Open cannot be complete, because many tennis players have not trained at full strength. I think that about 50% of athletes were preparing for it. There will be no stability, and there will be no stability - so expect sensations. It will be possible to speak about the quality of the game only starting from the 1/8 finals ", - quotes Tarpishchev" Championship ".