Elina Svitolina and Kiki Bertens have joined the growing number of withdrawals from this year’s US Open. due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Men’s defending champion Rafael Nadal and women’s world number 1 Ashleigh Barty have decided not to travel to the US for the grand slam as well as the warm-up event, Western & Southern Open.
“I understand and respect all the efforts they are putting to make it happen in a safe environment, but I still don’t feel comfortable to travel to the US without putting my team and myself at high risk,” Ukrainian world No 5 Svitolina, who reached last year’s semi-finals in New York, said on Twitter. While the 28-year-old, Bertens, ranked at seven, on Instagram “The situation around COVID-19 is still worrying and the health of everyone and the control over this virus is a priority,” said.
The United States has close to 5 million COVID cases and 160,000 deaths and have been the worst affected by the pandemic. The USTA are creating a bio-secure bubble in New York to host the tournament without spectators but a number of players will face mandatory quarantines when they return to their countries. Andy Murray have said that players coming from outside the US would need assurance that they won’t face mandatory quarantines upon return.
“The situation around COVID-19 is still worrying and the health of everyone and the control over this virus is a priority. Our prime minister indicated yesterday that we should be quarantined for 14 days after coming back from the States,” Bertens said. “Of course we respect this as a team and this would disturb our preparation for my beloved clay-court tournaments in Rome and Paris.”
The Italian Open is scheduled to be held in Rome from September 20 ahead of the French Open Grand Slam in Paris a week later. Australian Nick Kyrgios is another leading name not involved, but Serena Williams is definitely playing, and Novak Djokovic is also still on the current list of entrants.
