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Serena Williams confirms US Open attendance in huge boost to organisers

Serena Williams of the US reacts after a point against China's Wang Qiang  - AFP
Serena Williams of the US reacts after a point against China's Wang Qiang - AFP

Tennis is a sport run by and for celebrities, as we were reminded on Wednesday when the US Open launched its 2020 tournament with a video conference built around six-time champion Serena Williams.

With Roger Federer already out for the season, and both Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal on the “doubtful attendee” list, event organisers needed a big-hitter to rally around. Cue Williams, who contributed a corporate-sounding video from her home in Palm Beach.

“I cannot wait to return to New York and play US Open 2020,” said Williams. “I feel like USTA [the United States Tennis Association] is gonna do a really good job of ensuring that everything is amazing and everything is perfect and everyone is safe. It’s gonna be over six months since a lot of us have played professional tennis [but] I will certainly miss the fans.”

The USTA were so determined to attract Williams that, as tournament director Stacey Allaster confirmed on Wednesday, “The surface provided for the 2020 US Open has been shipped to her house. She’s got a new court in her backyard so she has been training.”

As Williams prepares, she can hardly have forgotten that a victory in New York on Sept 12 – the scheduled day of the women’s final – will carry her level with Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24 majors. Indeed, the absence of any fans from the stadium might be beneficial, after the occasion seemed to get to her when she lost to Naomi Osaka and Bianca Andreescu in the last two US Open finals.

During the video conference, Allaster also revealed concessions to critics such as Djokovic, who had previously criticised the US Open’s proposed safety protocols as “extreme”. Entourages will be allowed to extend to three people, rather than one as originally suggested, while doubles draws have been expanded from 24 teams to 32 and players are to be allowed to rent homes if they do not wish to stay in the official tournament hotel.

Simona Halep, the world No2, said on Wednesday that “I do not currently plan to play in NYC” – in the event which will be staged on its original dates of Aug 31 to Sept 13 – “[but] this situation is fluid.”

The US Open was not the only tournament to be announced on Wednesday, as both the men’s and women’s tours put out schedules for upcoming events. The WTA tournament in Palermo, starting on Aug 3, will mark the resumption of official elite tennis, with the ATP joining the picture on Aug 14 in Washington.

One bizarre wrinkle in the schedule involves world No3 Dominic Thiem and his multi-year commitment to the ATP 250 event in Kitzbuhel, where he is the defending champion. Kitzbuhel has been relocated to the week starting Sept 8 – which is the second week of the US Open – but the ATP specified in Wednesday’s announcement that top-ten players will not be able to participate in Kitzbuhel “unless they have played, and already lost, at the US Open”.

The rule appears to have been invented specifically to dictate Thiem’s schedule, which is especially odd when you consider that his manager – Herwig Straka – sits on the ATP board. In his latest Twitter jibe on Wednesday, the outspoken Nick Kyrgios called the ATP’s new president Andrea Gaudenzi a “potato”.