US Open Set to Happen In August

Posted on by Sophie Robinson

The United States Tennis Association announced on Wednesday that the US Open will be held at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows Queens, New York in August under new health and safety guidelines due to the coronavirus pandemic.

What We Know:

  • The 2020 US Open is set to take place in New York on its regularly scheduled dates of August 31 to September 13, but it will be immediately preceded by the relocated Western & Southern Open, which will take place at the same location. The Western & Southern Open is typically played in Mason, Ohio but has been relocated to New York City so the USTA can consolidate operations and lessen player travel.
  • The USTA announced a series of changes coming to the US Open this year in order to follow guidelines to protect players and staff from the spread of coronavirus. No fans will be present at the event and many of the guidelines work to curtail players’ movements in New York and limit the size of their entourages to allow for social distancing at the National Tennis Center.
  • The USTA’s proposal to hold the event has been accepted by New York State and Governor Andrew Cuomo with other details that will help create a bubble set up to contain the spread of coronavirus. There will be a designated hotel, TWA Hotel on the grounds of New York’s JFK International Airport, where players and their staff will stay. Players and their staff will be required to wear masks at the tennis center when not competing or training. There will be limited access to the locker room and other shared spaces will be regulated and seeded players will have access to unused hospitality suites as lounge areas. Athletes will have to travel to New York City on their own.
  • Cuomo announced his support for the US Open at a press conference on Tuesday, saying, “It will be held without fans, but we can watch it on TV, and I’ll take that”.
  • The matches themselves will look unlike anything seen before at the US Open aside from the empty stands. Matches typically have 6 ball persons but that will be limited to only 3 ball persons this year. There is usually a team of 11 officials per match, a chair umpire and11 linesmen, but this year there will only be a chair umpire working with the help of an electronic line-calling system, Hawk-Eye Live. US Open Tournament Director Stacey Allaster told reporters, “We just need to make sure we navigate the physical distancing and ensure that we keep everyone spread out”.
  • Changes to the tournament have also been made. Men’s and women’s doubles will be reduced from 64 teams each to 32 and only players not in singles may enter. The qualifying has also been cut so the 128-player slots for men’s and women’s singles will include 120 players who get in via their ranking and eight who receive wild-card invitations.
  • There has been mixed support and criticism from tennis stars across the world. Serena Williams, 23-time Grand Slam champion, announced her desire and intention to play in the 2020 US Open via a taped video message on Wednesday saying, “I really cannot wait to return to New York and play the US Open 2020, I feel like the USTA is going to do a really good job of ensuring everything is amazing and everything is perfect and everyone is safe. It’s going to be exciting”. Adding, “I’ll certainly miss the fans, don’t get me wrong… I’ll really miss that getting me through some of those tough matches”.
  • Additional vocal support came from American tennis player John Isner.

  • Other top pro players have yet to commit like Williams, some being very clear with their criticism of the USTA to still hold the US Open amid the pandemic. The top two singles players on the men’s and women’s tours, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Ashleigh Barty, and Simona Halep, all have expressed initial reluctance to commit. Many top players have expressed concerns about safety and travel restrictions as the majority of professional tennis players are based outside the United States (18 of the top 120 women are American as are 10 of the top 120 men).
  • The world’s No. 40-ranked singles player, Australian Nick Kyrgios, took to Twitter to criticize the officials for going ahead with the Open, tweeting, “I’ll get my hazmat suit ready for when I travel from Australia and then have to quarantine for 2 weeks on my return.” Gabriela Dabrowski, a Canadian doubles player, also took to Twitter to criticize the decision tweeting, “It leaves a bad taste in my mouth when so many players are against this event moving forward yet it is moving forward anyway”.

  • Despite the criticism from many international athletes, USTA Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director Mike Dowse released a statement, “We now can give fans around the world the chance to watch tennis’ top athletes compete for a US Open title, and we can showcase tennis as the ideal social distancing sport. Being able to hold these events in 2020 is a boost for the City of New York and the entire tennis landscape.”
  • The USTA will face a loss of revenues for this US Open with the absence of spectators, but they still have the support of its primary sponsors and ESPN, which pays more than $70 million annually in rights fees mainly to televise the tournament. The USTA intends to pay out approximately $52 million in prize money, close to the U.S. Open total of $57 million in 2019.
  • Wimbledon was canceled for the first time since World War II in 1945 because of the pandemic. The US Open is said to be the kickoff for the global tennis calendar as many events were postponed due to the coronavirus. The Australian Open was the first tournament to occur, happening in February before the pandemic shut down the world and the French Open has been rescheduled from May to shortly after the US Open in September.
  • “We recognize the tremendous responsibility of hosting one of the first global sporting events in these challenging times,” Dowse said, “and we will do so in the safest manner possible, mitigating all potential risks.”

After the completion of the US Open, both the men’s and women’s tours are expected to head to Europe for combined events in Madrid and Rome before the start of the French Open, a Grand Slam tournament rescheduled for September 27 to October 11. We wish for the continued health and safety of those participating in the US Open.

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