The US Open tennis tournament is to go ahead as planned pending formal government approval, the New York Times reported on Monday.
The Times cited four tennis officials speaking on condition of anonymity as saying that the Grand Slam event would take place in its usual late August-September slot.
The status of the tournament has been mired in uncertainty for weeks as New York battles the coronavirus, while a number of top players have expressed doubts about playing in the tournament.
The Times report said the tournament would take place at Flushing Meadows without fans from August 31 to September 13 after receiving support from the ATP and WTA Tours.
The US Tennis Association is expected to announce the decision later this week, the report added.
Forbes magazine also reported that the Open would take place as scheduled, with a decision expected “soon”.
The proposed plans for the tournament had been met with widespread reservations amongst leading players in international tennis, with world No 1 Novak Djokovic the most outspoken critic.
Under proposed safety protocols, US Open players would be confined to a hotel outside of Manhattan and would only be allowed to bring one member of their entourage to the event.
Singles qualifying would be eliminated while the doubles tournaments would be reduced from 64 pairings to just 24.
“This is the world we are living in,” USTA’s director of player relations Eric Butorac told ATP and WTA players during a conference call last week.
“We believe this is a good plan and believe it is good for the sport. It’s good for the tennis economy, creates jobs for you, for coaches, for commentators, for so many people.”
Djokovic however said the proposed safety measures and restrictions on the numbers of support staff were problematical.
“We would not have access to Manhattan, we would have to sleep in hotels at the airport, to be tested twice or three times per week,” Djokovic said.
“Also, we could bring one person to the club, which is really impossible.
“I mean, you need your coach, then a fitness trainer, then a physiotherapist.”
Mixed views
Women’s world No 52 Danielle Collins called out Djokovic’s hypocrisy after previously having offered financial help for tennis players ranked outside the top 100.
“This is a serious contradiction to previous comments about having players … inside the top 100 donate money to players outside of the top 250,” Collins wrote to Djokovic online.
It’s easy when someone’s made $150 million: Novak Djokovic slammed for opposing US Open
Meanwhile, Dominic Thiem, Alexander Zverev and Grigor Dimitrov on Friday joined Djokovic in expressing their reluctance over playing at the US Open under current conditions while the coronavirus pandemic is still active.
“All of these circumstances are pretty tough,” world No 3 Thiem told a press conference in Belgrade. “So I think some circumstances will have to change [for it to] make sense to go there,” the 26-year-old Austrian said.
Djokovic’s misgivings were also shared by defending men’s singles champion Rafael Nadal, who would be chasing a 20th Grand Slam title at Flushing.
Nadal, the world No 2, said earlier this month that he would not play in New York if the tournament was taking place now. The 34-year-old had said tennis should not resume until it is “completely safe” for all competitors.
“If you told me to play the US Open (scheduled for main draw start on August 31) today, I would say ‘no’. In a few months, I don’t know. I hope so. We have to wait for people to return to normal life. And when it does, wait to see how the virus evolves,” Nadal had said.
“It’s very difficult for me to separate what the world is experiencing from my point of view on tennis, that’s why I was very pessimistic a few weeks ago.”
World No 1 Ashleigh Barty had also voiced caution about resuming tennis too soon, saying she needed more information before committing to the US Open. The Australian, who surged to the top of the rankings last year and has stayed there since, said it was not just her but her entire team she must consider.
“It’s exciting that tennis is being talked about again and things are moving in the right direction for us to start competing,” she told the Sydney Morning Herald. “But I’d need to understand all of the information and advice from the WTA and the USTA before making a decision on the US events.”
The WTA and ATP schedules have been on ice since March with action not set to resume until the end of July at the earliest.
Wimbledon was cancelled for the first time since World War II, while the French Open has been shifted from May-June to September-October.
(With AFP inputs)
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