US Open will go ahead without fans but will players, including Big 3, show up?

NY Governor Andrew Cuomo gave the go head for the US Open to take place as scheduled, but several players are not planning to attend. Will this be the first grand slam in decades without Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic? What about Serena Williams?

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that the U.S. Open tennis grand slam will proceed as scheduled, in its traditional venue at Flushing Meadows. Only difference: no fans. Unlike the French Open—which rescheduled, to much complaint, the week after the US Open (Sep. 20)—the NY tournament remains on schedule to begin Aug. 24.

“It will be held without fans, but we can watch it on TV, and I’ll take that,” Gov. Cuomo said during a press conference, via NPR. “The tennis authority is going to be taking extraordinary precautions.”

You can read more about the factors being looked at in the coming weeks here.

Considered the loudest of the four majors in tennis, playing without fans will barely feel like the U.S. Open at all. But considering the medical and safety precautions, it’s understandable, if a bit deflating. If anything, the recent golf event at Colonial has shown us, there’s still much satisfaction in the experience.

Plenty of fans and players are of course excited to have live tennis back, especially a major event. We’ve been in a grand slam drought since the Australian Open concluded in February.

Last year’s finalist, Serena Williams applauded the USTA’s efforts to make this happen, despite the various challenges. She is also planning to participate, happy to get back to tennis, but said in her video tweet that she “will miss the fans.”

https://twitter.com/serenapower_/status/1273272959147409409

Other WTA players weigh in on US Open

Current world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty is more reserved about the prospect.

“I have concerns too,” reigning French Open winner Barty said, according to The Associated Press. “I understand the tournaments are eager to run but keeping everyone safe has to be the priority.”

Reigning Wimbledon champ and world No. 2, Simona Halep, has stated that she plans to skip the US slam and continue to focus on tournaments in Europe. Truthfully, there probably wasn’t as much motivation for the Romanian to play at Flushing Meadows, her least-successful slam, where she’s progressed to a semifinal only once. She won’t defend her Wimbledon title until next year, since the British slam is the only one to officially cancel.

Will The Big 3 play the US Open?

Apart from four men (Juan Martin del Potro, Andy Murray, Marin Cilic, and Stan Wawrinka), the last 16 men’s US Open winners have consisted of three names only: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic. However, this year we may see a break in that streak.

Five-time US Open winner Federer followed up being named Forbes’ top sports earner with the announcement that he would take off the rest of the year (we could all use a 2020 reboot) to take care of injury complications with the right knee that has plagued him since the beginning 2020. (Leave it to 20-time slam winner Fed to top Forbes while sitting out an entire year!)

Nadal’s been focusing his efforts on novel coronavirus philanthropy. It is unclear if the reigning champ will defend his US Open title, with Rafa expressing reservations of getting back to tennis during such a tumultuous time. The 19-time grand slam winner also thrives in a fan atmosphere, and understandably the four-time US Open titlist is not enthusiastic about the spectator-free format this year.

“Tennis and sport without the fans loses every single thing,” he told Eurosport, via ESPN.

World No. 1 Djokovic has been the most vocal critic out of the three legends, especially irked by the limitation of his entourage down to one. In the meantime, he’s been doing what he can to keep tennis spirit alive, with his Adria Tour, which has been playing to packed crowds across the Balkans and just finished a popular tournament in Belgrade, won by world No. 3 Dominic Thiem.

https://twitter.com/LaureusSport/status/1272155579058991105

Divided opinion continues in the sport despite US Open decision

Never one to hold back, Nick Kyrgios slammed the USTA for going ahead and joked about packing his hazmat suit.

https://twitter.com/NickKyrgios/status/1272687984882577408

American sensation on the WTA side, Danielle Collins emphasized the need for many of the players to get back to work and start earning again.

“It’s easy when someone’s made $150 million throughout their career to try and tell people what to do with their money, and then turn down playing in the US Open,” she wrote on Instagram, according to ESPN.

The lack of marquee names is not sitting well with fans, for a sport that relies heavily on them.

Even if someone new wins the slam, will it feel legitimate if the Big 3 sit this one out? Whoever the winner is will still have to grapple with the caveat, “he won because he didn’t have to face Fed, Nadal, or Djokovic in the final…”

Tennis continues to be one of the hardest-hit by COVID-19, due to the international nature of individual events. With Federer out and opinion divided across the sport, tennis seems to have the most difficult recovery road ahead.

It is a great shame for a sport that retains the highest paid male (Federer) and female (Naomi Osaka) sports players, a real testament for the power of tennis in our cultural lexicon.

The US Open is scheduled to take place August 24. Stay tuned here for all your tennis news.