'We have to understand tennis is not going to be the same' - Feliciano Lopez urges peers to play at US Open
As a rare example of a tennis champion who can see the sport from two perspectives at once, veteran player and tournament director Feliciano Lopez has called for his peers to support the struggling United States Tennis Association by showing up for August’s proposed US Open.
The USTA – who were forced to lay off 130 employees last week – are expected to announce today whether or not the two-week tournament will take place between Aug 31 and Sept 13, with players restricted to just a single person in their entourage and everyone booked to stay at the same hotel near JFK Airport.
When a remote video conference was held with more than 400 players on Wednesday, the mood among the field was turbulent. The New York Times reported that Marin Cilic, champion for the 2014 tournament, had suggested that the players deserve extra pay to make up for the unappealing conditions.
But Lopez – who is tournament director for the Madrid Open, as well as a top-60 player at the age of 38 – feels that the special circumstances of 2020 deserve more consideration.
“I think we need to understand the situation we are going through,” Lopez told reporters. “The companies and the sponsors, they might have to fire employees. This is happening everywhere in the world so the first thing they cut is sponsorship and this is going to be affecting tennis massively.
“We have to understand that tennis is not going to be the same, at least for one, two, three years. I don't know how long. But we need to survive this moment and we need to be united and we need to be together now.
“As a player you need to understand that right now the numbers are not going to be the same as they were before, that's for sure. For example, in Madrid, now we are working on this plan that there is going to be a reduction in the prize money, if you can have the tournament with some people in the stands or if you don't have any spectators at all.”
To return to the US Open, one suspicion is that the tournament may end up going ahead without a single male slam champion. Roger Federer has already announced that he is out for the season, having undergone a second operation on his right knee, while both Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal have expressed scepticism about travelling to New York.
Asked whether he expected the big names to be missing, Lopez replied “Probably. I don't know. This is very personal. Myself, I will go and play. I will take the risk, if there is any risk. I think the majority of players would also do the same.
“But I completely understand that there will be some players who don't want to take that risk because they don't want to put themselves in danger or they want to protect their families or they just think the restrictions are really strong.
“I respect Novak when he said he needs to have with him his whole team, for example. But I think Stacey Allaster [who was appointed last week as the US Open’s first female tournament director] said they are confident that the situation will get better and they will be able to allow more people in the stadium in two months when the US Open is going to be played.
“So I respect every opinion but I really think we have to start playing as soon as possible because this is for the benefit of the majority of the tour.”
Today would also have been the first day of the Fever-Tree Championships at Queen’s Club, the tournament where Lopez last year teamed up with Andy Murray to win the doubles, having already defeated Gilles Simon in the singles final the day before.
“For me of course it was very special to play doubles with Andy because he’s one of the best players ever,” recalled Lopez. “And to be able to win the singles title at 38 years old [actually 37], it was the best week of my life for sure. I’ll be back next year, but it was very sad for me not to be able to play the grass season this year.
“Andy and I text each other every two weeks or so. Actually two days ago I was talking to him, and he was really pumped about the US Open. He needs to be careful, of course. He needs to wait a little bit to see how the hip is going to respond. But he was positive. He has started to play a little bit, and I think he’s really keen to play if the US Open is finally happening. I’m crossing my fingers to see Andy playing again, of course. It would be great for everybody, especially for him.”
