“I think the biggest hit of the tournament would be Serena not playing,” said Tracy Austin, a two-time U.S. Open women’s champion who is now a tennis channel analyst. “With Serena, you still have the biggest storyline with her for 24.”
The coronavirus breaks out
Sports and the virus
Updated August 17, 2020
Here’s what happens when the world of sports slowly comes to life again:
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- Fans are critical extras in the background of live sports. Without a capacity that a person rejoices in, professional sports lose some of their excitement, and perhaps their significance.
- Three teenagers are cycling across the country this summer. Would the ideals of the open road cease in the harsh summer of 2020?
- In an effort to produce an edge of home court, the NBA has compiled a database of music, audio cues and graphics that teams would normally use in their own arenas.
Women’s tennis is currently particularly deep and egalitarian. Numerous threats are still in the field, including Pliskova, Osaka, Petra Kvitova and the rebellious Garbiñe Muguruza, the powerful Spaniard who lost to Kenin at this year’s Australian Open. There are also new threats such as Kenin and 16-year-old Coco Gauff.
But there is also no reality ignored.
“This should definitely be the weakest US Open of the Open era,” Austin said, referring to 1968, when professionals were allowed to play the Grand Slam events, and beyond. “There may have been some Australian openings and French openings that were not well attended, but that was apparently not because of the pandemic. It was because not everyone played them at the time. I think Halep’s withdrawal is a particularly difficult one. But I think the USTA is doing the best they can in a difficult situation. ”
In total, 19 of today’s top 100 women have withdrawn, and more attrition is possible in the days ahead with a former No. 1, Angelique Kerber, among the undecided.
Some stars will be absent due to an injury, including Andreescu, who has been out with a knee injury since October and recently injured a foot.
But the vast majority of absentees are worried about traveling during the pandemic or about managing a close tournament schedule that, after a five-month hiatus, has packed two Grand Slam tournaments over a six-week period.
The US Open is set to run on hardcourts in New York from August 31 to September 13, with the French Open to follow on clay in Paris from September 27 to October 11, after being postponed from its original dates at the end May and early June.
