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Post by Admin on Aug 12, 2020 19:30:45 GMT
Svetlana Kuznetsova, Barbora Strycova and Wang Xiyu have joined a growing list of players to withdraw from the US Open over health concerns. Kuznetsova, the 2004 US Open champion, wrote on Instagram on Monday that she was pulling out of the New York grand slam and preceding tournament. The Western & Southern Open starts on August 22; the US Open starts August 31. Also withdrawing from the US Open on Monday were World No.31 Strycova of the Czech Republic, a Wimbledon semi-finalist in 2019, and No.108 Wang Xiyu of China. “I feel very sad, because I have been (waiting) for these tournaments so much, but the pandemic changes all plans,” Kuznetsova wrote. The 35-year-old Russian, who also won the 2009 French Open, has been ranked as high as No.2 in singles. She is currently No.32, which would have put her in line to be seeded at Flushing Meadows. Three of the top seven women in the rankings, including World No.1 Ash Barty, have pulled out of the US Open.
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Post by Admin on Aug 18, 2020 18:08:37 GMT
World number two Simona Halep of Romania will not travel to New York to play in the U.S. Open due to COVID-19 concerns, she said on Monday, leaving the women’s draw at the Grand Slam tournament without six of the world’s top-10 players.
Romanian Halep joined world number one Ash Barty, defending champion Bianca Andreescu, Elina Svitolina, Kiki Bertens and Belinda Bencic in skipping the event at Flushing Meadows.
“After weighing up all the factors involved and with the exceptional circumstances in which we are living, I have decided that I will not travel to New York to play the U.S. Open,” Halep, the reigning Wimbledon champion, wrote on Twitter
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“I always said I would put my health at the heart of my decision and I therefore prefer to stay and train in Europe. I know the USTA and WTA have worked tirelessly to put on a safe event and I wish everyone there a successful tournament.”
Halep, 28, won the Prague Open over the weekend — her first event since COVID-19 pandemic shut down tennis in March — and said she would announce her decision about playing in the U.S. Open on Monday.
The U.S. has become the world’s biggest hotspot for the novel coronavirus, recording over 5.4 million cases and more than 170,000 deaths, according to a Reuters tally.
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Post by Admin on Aug 21, 2020 20:15:37 GMT
Serena Williams said she enjoys being at the National Tennis Center, but she is living in a rented house in order to insulate herself even further from exposure to the coronavirus because of her history of significant lung complications. "I want to be here, but I have genuine health issues," Williams said Friday in a Zoom meeting with reporters covering the Western & Southern Open, which begins in earnest on Saturday. The tournament is a prelude to the Aug. 31 start of the US Open. "I didn't want to be in the [official player] hotel because I have lung issues and felt it was a big risk for me personally," she said. "In a house, I can control more, there's no housekeeping [staff], none of that stuff. I needed to put my mind at rest so that I could perform in New York." Williams suffered a pulmonary embolism during labor before giving birth to daughter Alexis Olympia in September 2017, and another, life-threatening one shortly after giving birth, setbacks that left Williams bedridden for six weeks and delayed her return to training. Williams said that she has been "super careful" during the pandemic, adding that while the extra testing required by the USTA as it prepares for the US Open is a big adjustment for the players, she is all for it. At 38, Williams remains one Grand Slam singles title short of equaling Margaret Court's all-time record of 24. Williams already is the most prolific major title winner of the Open era. The USTA decided to allow players to stay with their families or entourages in private houses instead of one of the two approved tournament hotels if the players agreed to certain conditions. Those include a mandate to provide security to monitor the behavior and activities of those in the home during the three-plus-week period in which the tournament is being played inside a bio-secure bubble at the traditional home of the US Open. "They have to guide you, make sure people aren't leaving, going to nightclubs and restaurants," Williams said of the mandate. "I think that's good, because people might get antsy and might want to go places. I want to know where people are going. I want to make sure we are all keeping ourselves in this giant bubble. There are more people now, with 128 draws. That's a lot of people, so I like to know that everybody is staying to their word and being honest about it."
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Post by Admin on Aug 31, 2020 19:14:13 GMT
ANASTASIJA SEVASTOVA (31) VS. COCO GAUFF [FIRST MEETING] In what could be the most-anticipated first-round match on the women’s side, American phenom Gauff will take on No. 31 seed Sevastova, who’s had the best results of her entire career at the US Open. She reached her first two Grand Slam quarterfinals at Flushing Meadows in 2016 and 2017 before going one step further to her first major semifinal here in 2019. They’ll clash on Armstrong on Monday afternoon. EKATERINA ALEXANDROVA (21) VS. KIM CLIJSTERS (WC) [FIRST MEETING] Clijsters’ comeback to the tour was paused after two tournaments in February, but the three-time US Open champion’s game is perfectly suited for these courts, and she won six of seven matches in World TeamTennis. Can she get the first win of her comeback? SERENA WILLIAMS (3) VS. KRISTIE AHN [FIRST MEETING] On the surface, this doesn’t look like a tricky one for the world No. 9—Ahn is No. 97 and she’s never beaten a Top 10 player before. But she did have the best tournament of her career on these courts a year ago, making it all the way to the fourth round, taking out major champions Svetlana Kuznetsova and Jelena Ostapenko en route. And how will Serena rebound from her strange loss to Maria Sakkari? SOFIA KENIN (2) VS. YANINA WICKMAYER [WICKMAYER LEADS 1-0] It wasn’t a winning return to the tour for Kenin this past week, falling to one of the biggest giant-killers, Alize Cornet, in her opening match at the Western & Southern Open. And her first hurdle at the US Open could be a high one too—not only is Wickmayer a former No. 12 and a US Open semifinalist in 2009, she also won their only previous meeting at a WTA 125K Series event in 2018.
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Post by Admin on Sept 1, 2020 8:25:36 GMT
The 2020 US Open returned to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on Monday though no fans were in attendance due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Here’s a roundup of the first day of action. Naomi Osaka wears Breonna Taylor mask Naomi Osaka made quite the statement as she took the court at Arthur Ashe Stadium for her opening-round match against Japan’s Misaki Doi. Osaka was wearing a plain black mask with Breonna Taylor’s name written across the front, honoring the former Louisville EMT who was shot and killed by police in her bed earlier this year. Taylor’s death, along with George Floyd’s in police custody in May and the Jacob Blake shooting in Wisconsin earlier this month, have sparked a massive social justice movement across the country. Osaka joined countless other athletes around the sports world last week and walked out of her semifinal match at the Western & Southern Open to protest Blake’s shooting.
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