Covid tests, distance monitors, outdoor massage tables, masked ball collectors, deleted linesmen, hotels in quarantine ... the US Open is preparing to be the first Grand Slam tournament played in the era of new coronavirus.
To ensure the Flushing Meadows bubble remains virus-tight, the tournament will be played behind closed doors and the American Tennis Federation has implemented a strict health protocol under the guidance of the Center for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC ).
The tests
Players must be tested at least four days before the start of the tournament. If one of them is positive, it will be removed from the table. If he has been in close contact with someone who has contracted the virus, he will also be removed from the tournament, a measure imposed by the New York State Department of Health.
Singles players are allowed to bring up to three guests on site. All will need to have two nasal swab tests 48 hours apart after arrival. They will have access to the tournament site if the first test is negative. Once the second test comes back negative, the subsequent testing frequency will be every four days.
The bubble
Masks should be worn by everyone at all times except when eating and drinking. Players do not need to wear a mask when out on the pitch for a game or practice. Forty staff members will monitor the venue and the courts to ensure players and others adhere to distancing standards and wear masks.
Changing rooms, like the one at Arthur-Ashe Stadium which can normally accommodate up to 300 people, will be limited to 30 at a time and only accessible to players, for a maximum of 15 minutes. Massage tables will be placed outside. As for the boxes, they are allocated to the male and female seeds (64 in total).
The premises will be cleaned and disinfected every day and at regular intervals. Finally, any player leaving the bubble without the written consent of the chief medical officer or the tournament director will be removed from the table and sanctioned with a fine. Guests and coaches who leave without authorization will have their access to the tournament revoked.
On the courts
Bullet collectors will be masked. They will not touch the towels of the players or bring them their drinks. Handshakes and braces will be prohibited, replaced by a touch of rackets.
Linesmen are replaced by hawk-eye technology. In the absence of an audience, the USTA has partnered with ESPN and IBM to recreate and broadcast crowd sounds, in various match situations, gleaned from hundreds of hours of video footage captured during previous editions of the US Open.
Off site
The vast majority of players will be accommodated on Long Island, 30 km east of Flushing Meadows, in two hotels requisitioned by the USTA, where everything has been done to accommodate them as well as possible (golf simulator, game rooms and gym ...). They will make their round trips to Flushing Meadows, not in individual cars, but in buses filled to 50% of their capacity.
Eight players, including Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams, nevertheless preferred to rent a house at their expense, for which they must also pay for 24-hour surveillance. They will have to organize their own transport.
- Coronavirus
- US Open
- Tennis
- Sport