The world number 1 tennis player, the Serbian Novak Djokovic, estimates that the tennis season, suspended since March due to the cononavirus, will not resume until September in Europe, considering that the “extreme” sanitary conditions planned for the US Open in August will lead to to give up many players.
Nothing is clear yet. Before the end of this month the final decision should be announced ”on the holding of the US Open in New York, one of the epicenters of the novel coronavirus epidemic in the United States, Djokovic told Serbian public television (RTS).
“The most realistic now, for me, is that the season will resume on clay in September, with Madrid, Rome and some other tournaments before Roland Garros,” he added.
The Serbian player, who is currently organizing a humanitarian tournament in several Balkan countries (from June 13 to July 5), reiterated his criticism of the sanitary measures imposed by the US authorities and urged the organizers of the US Open to reach out to a “commitment” to tennis players.
Djokovic rejects above all the obligation to fulfill a 14-day isolation for all those who arrive in the United States, having to stay in airport hotels and the restrictions on team members to access the complex where the tournament is held.
“That would mean not having access to the slopes and therefore not having the possibility to train. Something unimaginable at the moment, “explained the winner of the US Open in 2011, 2015 and 2018.
“These are quite extreme conditions and I don’t know if they are sustainable. Most of the players I have talked to so far have a very negative position on the possibility of going “to New York, he said.
When the ATP and WTA circuits have been suspended since mid-March, the Masters 1000 in Cincinnati (Ohio) is scheduled to take place from August 16 to 23 in anticipation of the US Open (August 24 to September 13).
As a consequence of COVID-19, Wimbledon was canceled and Roland Garros was scheduled for the end of September.
The world number 2, the Spanish Rafael Nadal, at the beginning of June showed his reservations regarding the resumption of the season “until the situation will not be completely safe and fair.”
And number 4, the Swiss Roger Federer, announced this Wednesday that he will not play again until 2021 after having undergone an operation on his right knee. AFP (HN)