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Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams are leading a tournament that will be unrecognizable from previous Slams due to strict security protocols that were not yet enough to convince some of tennis’s biggest names to go to New York.
The U.S. Open is the first Covid-19-era Grand Slam when it debuted Monday in a no-viewer 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 are leading a tournament that will be unrecognizable from previous 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.
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 data on when the player leaves and arrives 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.
Temperature controls are mandatory to enter the US Open, which is dotted with hand sanitizers and symptoms warn everyone to stay two metres 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 line calls.
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.
“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 coronavirus concerns and Swiss legend Roger Federer, who is recovering from knee surgery, hands Djokovic a golden chance to close the gap on his fierce rivals in the records 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 opposing 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 would be without the “explosive” power of the 22,000 enthusiastic enthusiasts huddled at Arthur Ashe Stadium, but that more downtime was positive.
“The circumstances are very unusual but we have to deal with it and try to embrace it,” 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, has a tricky draw though. She could meet 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens in the third round, Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin in the semi-finals and potentially Czech top 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.
Dhaka
Tennis
Nation
Nation
Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Football
Dhaka
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Formula One
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Kazi Anis Ahmed, editor