Novak Djokovic boosted the US Open by saying Thursday he’ll play within the Grand Slam tennis occasion whereas reigning ladies’s champion Bianca Andreescu joined a number of notable no-shows. High-ranked Djokovic, a 17-time Slam singles champion, ended speculation by saying he would travel to New York on Saturday and play a tuneup occasion inside a COVID-19 quarantine bubble on the Flushing Meadows grounds forward of the US Open begin on August 31. “It was not a simple resolution to make with all of the obstacles and challenges on many sides,” three-time US Open winner Djokovic stated.
“However the prospect of competing once more makes me actually excited.”
The 33-year-old Serbian would be the solely member of the “Massive Three” at Arthur Ashe Stadium, with reigning champion Rafael Nadal — a four-time winner — deciding already to not defend his 2019 title and five-time champion Roger Federer out with a knee injury.
The three stars have gained 40 of the previous 51 males’s Grand Slam titles, together with the previous 13 in a row.
Nadal has gained 19 males’s Slam crowns, one shy of Federer’s file, whereas Djokovic has gained 5 of the previous seven.
Britain’s Andy Murray, the 2012 US Open champion, will compete.
But additionally among the many lacking are France’s Gael Monfils, Italy’s Fabio Fognini, Swiss Stan Wawrinka, the 2016 winner, and Australian crowd-puller Nick Kyrgios.
The US Open will lack each reigning champions in Nadal and Canada’s Andreescu, who stated Thursday she is not going to defend her crown as a result of she has been unable to correctly put together, partly due to the pandemic.
“After many discussions with these closest to me, I’ve made the troublesome resolution to not return to New York this 12 months,” Andreescu stated in an announcement.
“I’ve taken this step so as to concentrate on my match health and be sure that I return able to play at my highest degree.”
Andreescu defeated Serena Williams 6-Three, 7-5 in final 12 months’s US Open closing.
“The US Open victory final 12 months has been the excessive level of my profession to this point and I’ll miss not being there,” Andreescu stated.
“Nonetheless, I notice that the unforseen challenges, together with the COVID pandemic, have compromised my capacity to organize and compete to the diploma essential to play at my highest degree.”
She joins a ladies’s absentee listing that features Australia’s top-ranked Ashleigh Barty, Ukraine’s fifth-ranked Elina Svitolina, seventh-rated Kiki Bertens and previous winner Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia.
Serena seeks 24th Slam
Williams, a 23-time Grand Slam champion, will compete within the US Open as she tries to match Margaret Court docket’s all-time Slam titles file and seize a seventh crown at Flushing Meadows.
Williams rallied to defeat sister Venus Williams Three-6, 6-Three, 6-Four on Thursday in a second-round match on the WTA occasion in Kentucky, the primary US match for the reason that pandemic shutdown.
“I wished to win this for my recreation and my confidence,” stated Serena.
“I truthfully did not come right here to win (a title) for the primary time in my profession. I simply got here right here to get some matches.”
It is a return to competitors for Djokovic after he hosted a charity occasion in June the place he and a number of other different gamers examined optimistic for COVID-19.
“I’m conscious that this time round it is going to be very completely different with all of the protocols and security measures which are put in place to guard gamers and other people,” Djokovic wrote in his web site.
Promoted
“Nonetheless, I’ve skilled onerous with my crew and received my physique in form so I’m able to adapt to new situations.”
The US Open web site housed a makeshift COVID-19 hospital earlier this 12 months because the pandemic that shut down tennis and different sports activities had its first main US outbreak in New York.
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