USTA plans to move forward with U.S. Open amid coronavirus pandemic
NEW YORK TIMES / SEPTEMBER 4, 2019
Arthur Ashe Stadium during the US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, N.Y.
Despite major challenges created by the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. Tennis Association is set to announce this week that it will hold the 2020 U.S. Open with the support of the men’s and women’s tours.
The tournament is expected to run as originally scheduled from Aug. 31 to Sept. 13, but without spectators, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Formal government approval still needs to be secured for the Open to take place, Chris Widmaier, a USTA spokesman, said Monday.
“From the beginning, we’ve built this plan in a very collaborative manner,” he said, adding that the USTA had consulted regularly with medical and security experts. “We also recognize in order to move forward that we need government approval, approval from the state of New York and any other entity.”
Even if the tournament is soon confirmed, more than two months will remain before it begins, and outside forces, including the path of the virus and global travel restrictions, may still scuttle the USTA’s plans. The field is also likely to be thinner than usual, with athletes making individual decisions about whether to compete.
Still, after lengthy meetings and negotiations with tennis’s other governing bodies, the USTA intends to proceed with the U.S. Open in its traditional late-summer dates with the support of its primary sponsors and ESPN, which is paying more than $70 million annually in rights fees to the organization mainly to televise the tournament.
“Our team has literally worked around the clock to figure out a way we can have the U.S. Open and do it in a safe way,” Patrick Galbraith, president of the USTA, said in a conference call with more than 400 men’s players and coaches on Wednesday.
The start of the French Open has been postponed until late September. Wimbledon was canceled for the first time since 1945.
There has been considerable resistance from international players to the centralized U.S. Open plan.
Players will be subject to frequent coronavirus testing. Many will be lodged together at a hotel outside Manhattan, and some restrictions are expected to be placed on their movement to protect their health.
