World quantity two Simona Halep joined a rising record of tennis stars when she stated on Monday that she would skip the US Open over coronavirus fears. “After weighing up all of the elements concerned and with the distinctive circumstances through which we live, I’ve determined that I cannot journey to New York to play the @usopen,” tweeted Halep, the present Wimbledon champion. “I at all times stated I’d put my well being on the coronary heart of my determination and I subsequently favor to remain and practice in Europe.”
The Romanian added: “I do know the @usta and @WTA have labored tirelessly to placed on a secure occasion and I want everybody there a profitable event.”
Halep joins a number of high gamers who’re passing on taking part in at Flushing Meadows when the next Grand Slam tournament begins on August 31.
Reigning US Open champion Bianca Andreescu of Canada won’t play, becoming a member of males’s 2019 winner Rafael Nadal in skipping the event.
Additionally absent from this 12 months’s US Open will likely be Australia’s top-ranked Ashleigh Barty, Ukraine’s fifth-ranked Elina Svitolina, seventh-rated Kiki Bertens, eighth-ranked Swiss Belinda Bencic – whom Andreescu beat within the semi-finals final 12 months – and previous winner Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia.
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Serena Williams, in search of a 24th profession Grand Slam title to match Margaret Courtroom’s all-time file, will compete, as will males’s world primary Novak Djokovic.
New York was one of many hardest-hit US cities when COVID-19 first spiked in March and April, a short lived hospital even being established on indoor courts on the US Tennis Heart.
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