Ashleigh Barty leads chorus of concerns over proposed US Open changes
The women’s world number one, Ashleigh Barty, has joined a chorus of leading players to outline her concerns at the potential staging of the US Open.
Ahead of an expected announcement in the next 24 hours, Barty has followed Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, the winners of the last eight men's majors, to express reservations about a range of proposed changes, including limits on player entourages for an event that is scheduled to begin on Aug 31.
"I have concerns too," Barty said. "I understand the tournaments are eager to run but keeping everyone safe has to be the priority."
A decision from the US Tennis Association's board about whether to hold the Grand Slam tournament in New York is imminent. The United States has had more coronavirus deaths than anywhere in the world, including more than 30,000 in the state of New York alone.
Djokovic last week told Serbia's state broadcaster RTS that most players he's talked to "were quite negative" about entering the US Open and that for him, "as things stand, most probably the season will continue on clay at the beginning of September".
Wimbledon has already been cancelled completely this year while the French Open was postponed from a May start to late September. Under usual circumstances, the US Open is the last of the four majors to be played in the season but could now follow the Australian Open as the second Grand Slam of the year.
Tournament director Stacey Allaster has said organisers have been trying to figure out how to "engage fans virtually," suggesting that it is unlikely that spectators, and certainly large groups of crowds, will be allowed to attend.
Under proposals to get the tournament started, players would need to prove they had tested negative for Covid-19 before traveling on charter flights that the USTA would organise from select cities. There would likely be daily health questionnaires and temperature checks, along with nasal, saliva or antibody testing.
Barty told the Associated Press that she was "still getting my head around what the tournament set up would be". Australia closed its international borders in March and there are still travel restrictions domestically and strict physical distancing regulations. Australia has recorded 102 deaths from 7,335 cases of Covid-19.
"I can't wait to get back out there and play but we have to make sure it's safe to do so first, not just for me but for my team," she said.
"It's tough to set goals, that's for sure, [when] we still don't really know what the rest of the year will look like, there is so much out of our control. When we have some certainty on the rest of the year, my team and I will sit down and set a few tennis goals."
