US Open

Organisers determined to deliver US Open on time and in New York

2020-06-01 12:54

The United States Tennis Association (USTA) says it is "150 percent" focused on holding the US Open on time and at Flushing Meadows.

Tennis has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and has been at a total standstill since the start of March.

Wimbledon has already been cancelled this year, but the USTA says they have no intention of allowing the coronavirus crisis to wipe the US Open off the 2020 tennis calendar as well.

"We continue to be, I would say, 150 percent focused on staging a safe environment for conducting a US Open at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre in New York on our dates," USTA chief executive Stacey Allaster told the Associated Press.

"It's all I wake up - our team wakes up - thinking about. The idea of an alternative venue, an alternative date... we've got a responsibility to explore it, but it doesn’t have a lot of momentum."

The Indian Wells Tennis Garden in California was recently touted as a potential alternative host venue.

The US Open attracted 850 000 spectators last year, but Allaster says it is "less and less likely" spectators will be allowed inside Flushing Meadows if the tournament does go ahead.

Meanwhile, the players themselves will also be subject to strict monitoring.

"Once they come into our, let's say, 'US Open world'," Allaster added. "There will be a combination of daily health questionnaires, daily temperature checks and some nasal or saliva or antibody testing."

- TEAMtalk media

Read more on:    atp tour  |  wta tour  |  us open  |  lockdown  |  coronavirus  |  tennis

 

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