The United States Tennis Association is pulling out all the stops to hold the US Open 2020 in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. However, many top players including Novak Djokovic showed their reluctance over participating at the Grand Slam event in New York.
Djokovic raised his concerns over the extreme measures taken by the USTA to ensure the safety of those involved. He feels that the restrictions imposed at the US Open 2020 are unsustainable. The 17-time Grand Slam winner also flagged that he might skip the event.
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However, former doubles World No.1 Todd Woodbridge believes that having a limited entourage and other restrictions imposed by the US Open 2020 is the new normal. He explained that this might be the future prospect of tennis and everyone would have to adjust to the circumstance.
“When you go to majors, there’s barely a player who doesn’t have at least two to three people with them, whether that’s parents, friends or somebody supporting them, I can promise you that. That will be a change for everybody,” Todd told Wide World of Sports.
“If they don’t realize that it’s going to be very hard” – Todd Woodbridge
“Over the years, the leading players have added to their entourage with their own physio, and trainers, and a traveling coach. That’s really taken off in the last 10-15 years,” he added.
He further explained that 15 years ago, the players were all relied on the tour physios and the tour doctors, so it will probably go back to that. The 22-time doubles Grand Slam assured that the tour has highly qualified people to take care of the players.
The Australian legend urged everyone to keep an open mind and be prepared for some changes on the tour. He also hopes to see the US Open taking place this year.
“The whole tour, whether it be the leading players or the guy ranked No.100, we’re going to have to accept it’s going to look different when we come back. It’s going to have changed from the way it was. If they don’t realize that it’s going to be very hard,” he continued.
“We need to get our sports rolling again, and if the USTA can put on an event, it will be the best possible event that they can do, and you’d hope the whole playing group would support that. But on a personal level, I’d like to see America be doing a little better before we all have to go there,” Todd concluded.
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The main draw of the US Open 2020 is scheduled to commence from 31st August. The final decision on whether the tournament will be played or not is yet to come. However, the organizers are optimistic to hold the event with no or fewer fans in the stadium.
