Rebecca Blackwell/Associated Press
Four-time U.S. Open champion Rafael Nadal introduced Tuesday he could maybe per chance maybe also now not earn fragment in the 2020 match, citing concerns in regards to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rafa Nadal @RafaelNadal
All of us know that the reduced tennis calendar is barbaric this 365 days after 4 months stopped without a play, I imprint and thank for the efforts they’re placing in to make it happen. We possess now correct seen the announcement of Madrid now not being played this 365 days.
Nadal’s determination comes lower than per week after Ashleigh Barty, the No. 1 females’s participant in the arena, signaled her draw to skip the match.
CNN’s Jill Martin shared the up so some distance males’s singles plan with out Nadal:
In June, Novel York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed off on plans to stage the U.S. Open with out followers on the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. The ATP Tour and WTA additionally moved the Western & Southern Open from its weird and wonderful home of Mason, Ohio, to Novel York City as a tune-up for the U.S. Open.
Nadal’s concerns appear to elongate previous correct the U.S. Open, as he known as the ATP’s agenda “barbaric” after the pandemic compelled officials to bring the season to a end.
The ATP on the starting up attach rolled out a six-week hiatus, at some point soon of which time it would stare the matter evolve. Play could maybe per chance maybe also now not formally resume till the Western & Southern Open, which begins Aug. 24.
Nadal hasn’t stepped on the court docket for a competitive match since a success the Mexican Open in February.
Besides to the absence of the defending champion, the U.S. Open must deal with out five-time champ Roger Federer, who confirmed in June he’s sitting out the the leisure of the season on record of knee complications.
Jose Morgado of Portuguese newspaper Chronicle common the 1999 U.S. Open was the final Wide Slam match that didn’t feature either Federer or Nadal.
