The U.S. Open is the first COVID-19-era Grand Slam when it debuted Monday in a spectatorless bubble at Flushing Meadows after a problematic buildup that saw several big stars retire due to the fears of the coronavirus.
Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams lead a tournament that will be unrecognizable from past Slams due to strict security protocols that were not yet enough to convince some of tennis’s biggest names to go to New York.
Defending champion Rafael Nadal and women’s number one Ashleigh Barty are among the most sensible absences at the U.S. National Tennis Center, which became an emergency coronavirus hospital a few months ago.
Noisy crowds are a hallmark of the US Open, however, the cavernous Arthur Ashe Stadium will be eerily empty to mitigate the infection of the fatal pandemic that has wiped out much of the tennis season, adding Wimbledon.
Players are kept in a strictly controlled environment with normal COVID-19 testing during the tournament. Any competitor that tests positive after the start of the occasion will be automatically eliminated.
Novak Djokovic points to his eighteenth Grand Slam name at the 2020 US Open at Flushing Meadows in New York Photo: GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / MATTHEW STOCKMAN
Most of the competition in one of the two hotels where they will be moved for 30 minutes to and from the tennis center.
Some, adding Djokovic and Williams, have chosen to stay in private homes where they will have to pay for 24-hour security approved by the American Tennis Association (USTA).
Security is required to provide usTA with details about the player’s departure and arrival home.
No player can enter anywhere other than between the tennis centre and his accommodation. Any player who comes out of the bubble without the written consent of the organizers will be expelled from the tournament.
Serena Williams continues with Margaret Court with 24 Grand Slam titles Photo: GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / MATTHEW STOCKMAN
Temperature controls are required to enter the US Open, which is dotted with hand sanitizers and symptoms warn everyone to stay six feet away.
Players must wear a mask when not playing or eating, while ball players and referees will wear a mask on the field at Ashe and Louis Armstrong stadiums.
There will be no official lines on the courts, where the Hawk-Eye generation will make calls online.
Organizers restrict the costume to 30 players at a time, with the animated competition to take a shower and then go out as temporarily as you can imagine where activities have been organized, adding basketball baskets.
Arthur Ashe Stadium of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, which was used as a transitional box hospital at the peak of the coronavirus epidemic in New York Photo: AFP/Bryan R. Smith
Britain’s Andy Murray, the 2012 US Open champion, said the atmosphere was “pretty sad” but praised the precautionary measures.
“I feel confident and I’m happy to have to come,” he told reporters at an online press conference.
The absence of world number two Nadal due to the coronavirus and Swiss legend Roger Federer, who is recovering from knee surgery, gives Djokovic a golden chance to close the hole to his fierce rivals in the record race.
Djokovic has won five of the last seven men’s singles crowns and is the transparent favourite to win a fourth name at the US Open in the September 13th final.
A hard-court victory would lead the 33-year-old to 18 Grand Slam titles, Nadal with 19 and Federer with 20.
The Serb, who recovered from a neck injury at the ATP Western-Southern Open on Saturday, begins his opposite search for Damir Dzumhur, 107th of Bosnia and Herzegovina, on Monday night.
He may face fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas or world no.7 Alexander Zverev in the semi-finals before a imaginable championship against second seed, Austrian Dominic Thiem, who took Djokovic to five sets before falling to this year’s Australian Open final.
Djokovic said it will be strange without the “explosive” energy of 22,000 fans packed into Arthur Ashe Stadium but that more downtime was a positive.
“The cases are very unusual, however, we have to deal with them and check to reach an agreement,” he said.
A sold-out women’s draw gives Williams an extraordinary opportunity to earn a 24th Grand Slam title in her career, equivalent to Margaret Court’s all-time record.
World Number Two Simona Halep is absent, as are US Open protective champion Bianca Andreescu of Canada and the ten most sensible players Elina Svitolina, Kiki Bertens and Belinda Bencic.
Williams, 38, however, has a tricky draw. She may face 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens in the third round, Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin in the semi-finals and potentially Czech seed Karolina Pliskova in the final.
For Williams, who has lost in the US Open and Wimbledon finals every two years, a small squad does not devalue the title.
“It still has to be tennis, asterisk or not. I think this total year deserves an asterisk because it’s a very special year,” he said.