US Open
The USTA, which organizes the US Open every year, has released no statement regarding the future of the tournament or whether it will be canceled this year. Us Open is held in New York every year during August. According to the schedule, it will start its main draw on August 31st, while the USTA released no statement until now, the scheduled event will go on as mentioned. On the other hand, Wimbledon was canceled for the first time since world war II and Roland Garros was postponed to September/October. Rafael Nadal, the current world no.2 in the ATP singles ranking, answered reporters’ questions in an online conference. He clearly said no to whether he will participate in US Open 2020 if the situation remains the same. However, Nadal hopes that the scenario improves in the USA. He stated that he could not predict what will happen in the future and hopes that tennis will return to normal as soon as possible. He emphasized on the need to provide safe and fair sport in terms of the health of all the players. The ATP and WTA have put a hold on their schedules since mid-march. A decision is expected to come out near the end of June as many sports are resuming with no fans. Rafel Nadal said he would have to adjust to this situation, and playing with no fans could be tough as they are an essential part of the sport. Nadal said, “In my mind, if the whole world is suffering and if a lot of people are dying because of this pandemic, we cannot imagine organizing a huge sporting event with lots of people from around the world.” He respects the needs of the world rather than competing in tournaments for selfish gains. He holds 19 grand slam titles and would have been in sight of the Swiss legend Roger Federer who has 20 titles to his name. He was predicted win this year Roland Garros, which would have him tied at the to spot with Federer. He also mentioned that conditions of the Roland Garros would be different this year is it is held during September October, and he would have to adjust to them so as the ther players. Though he hopes the season resumes but isn’t very optimistic saying he can not predict what will happen in the coming months.
Ashleigh Barty WTA world no.2 said she also would avoid participating in the US open 2020 and would like to know about the conditions first. Though a decision is yet to be taken on the scheduling of the US Open 2020.