The family restrictions that the organizers of the United States Open Tennis plan to establish could force the former world number one, Serena Williams, to join the figures who have all the doubts about her possible participation.
First it was the Serbian Novak Djokovic and the Spanish Rafael Nadal, current defending champion, who expressed their doubts about the convenience of being this summer in Flushing Meadows to compete, where the loss of the Swiss Roger Federer, due to injury, is already certain.
Now the coach of the youngest of the Williams sisters, Patrick Mouratoglou, is also not sure that the six-time Open champion is interested in pursuing the seventh trophy this year.
“I think Serena will want to play the Open, one hundred percent, but I don’t know how she can go there with just one person,” Mouratoglou told Ben Rothenberg on the “No Challenges Left” podcast.
Mouratoglou explained that “I can’t imagine her three weeks without her daughter, so maybe her daughter will train her? I mean, she can only do better than me in the Grand Slam finals. “
There are proposed restrictions, due to the new coronavirus pandemic, that would limit each player to having one guest at the tournament each day. Williams’ daughter Olympia turns 3 on September 1.
Djokovic described those limitations as extreme and Nadal, the defending champion, has already raised concerns about coming to the tournament in New York City, which has been hit hard by the virus. Federer will not play the rest of the year due to knee surgery.
“The rules that they told us we would have to respect to be there, to play, are extreme,” Djokovic told Prva TV from Serbia. “We would not have access to Manhattan, we would have to sleep in hotels at the airport, to get tested two or three times a week.
“They want the tournament to go ahead at any cost for financial reasons, which I understand. But the question is, how many players are willing to accept those terms? “
It remains uncertain whether the 38-year-old Williams, who has won 23 Grand Slam tournaments, will be part of the Open, if it is ultimately confirmed next week to be held.
“We were waiting to hear from the US Open what the plan was,” Mouratoglou said. “Now the plan is quite clear, so I suppose that in the next few days we will have to talk.” (HN)