Tennis

Rafael Nadal will not defend his United States Open men’s singles title.On Tuesday, one day after the entry deadline, Nadal announced that he was withdrawing from the tournament because of his concerns about travel during the coronavirus pandemic.“This is a decision that I did not want to take,” he said on Twitter. “But in this case, I am following my heart by deciding that right now I prefer not to travel.”Nadal, 34 and ranked No. 2 behind Novak Djokovic, is a four-time singles champion at the U.S. Open and won the singles title last year after a lengthy and memorable five-set duel with Daniil Medvedev in the final.With 19 Grand Slam singles titles, he is just one short of matching Roger Federer’s men’s record, but he has decided to wait. His next chance could come at the French Open, which he has won a record 12 times and which is scheduled to start on Sept. 27 — just two weeks after the men’s final at the U.S. Open.“Rafa is one of the greatest champions in the history of our sport, and we support this decision,” said Stacey Allaster, the U.S. Open tournament director. “I know our fans will be disappointed to not have Rafa playing this year’s Western & Southern Open and U.S. Open. However, for the fans and the sport, we look forward to being inspired by him when he decides he’s ready to play.”Because of temporary changes to the ranking system, Nadal will still be able to count the points from winning last year’s U.S. Open even though he is skipping this year’s event. He did not specify on Tuesday whether he would play in this year’s French Open, but he had already committed to playing at least some of the clay-court season when he announced he would play at the Madrid Open the week after the U.S. Open.But the Madrid event, one of the most prestigious tournaments on both the men’s and women’s tours, was canceled on Tuesday after the organizers received a recommendation from Spanish public health authorities to call it off because of an increase in positive virus tests in some parts of Spain.“The situation is very complicated worldwide; the Covid-19 cases are increasing,” Nadal said. “It looks like we still don’t have control of it.”Nadal was in Indian Wells, Calif., in early March, set to play in the BNP Paribas Open before that event was called off on the eve of the qualifying tournament. He traveled back to his base in Majorca, where he went through lockdown before returning to train at the tennis academy he started in Manacor, his home city.The women’s tour resumed this week with a clay-court event in Palermo, Italy, but the men’s tour has been shut down for nearly five months and is not set to resume until later this month in New York, with the Western & Southern Open and the U.S. Open.The Western & Southern Open, normally played in the suburbs of Cincinnati, was moved to New York this year to create a doubleheader in a controlled environment where it would be easier to maintain strict health and safety protocols. Spectators will not be allowed on site at either tournament.“All my respects to the U.S.T.A., the U.S. Open organizers and the ATP for trying to put the event together for the players and fans around the world through TV,” Nadal said.But Nadal will instead be watching from afar. So will Federer, who announced he would not play again in 2020 as he recovered from his latest knee surgery. The last Grand Slam tournament without Federer and Nadal was the 1999 U.S. Open, where Federer, then 18, was eliminated in qualifying. The Open remains the only Grand Slam tournament where Federer and Nadal have not played each other.Ashleigh Barty, the No. 1 women’s player, announced last week from her home in Australia that she was withdrawing from the Open because of concerns about travel and the health risks for some of her team members.But the vast majority of leading players are, at least for now, still entered, including Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka, Karolina Pliskova, Sofia Kenin and Bianca Andreescu, the reigning women’s champion. In the men’s event, Djokovic and six other top 10 players remain on the entry list.But as Alexander Zverev pointed out last week, players are closely monitoring the health situation in New York and the travel situation internationally.The U.S.T.A. laid out key elements of its plan on Tuesday in an update sent to players, explaining that if a player leaves the tournament “bubble” without written permission from Allaster or the tournament’s chief medical officer, the player will be removed from the event and fined an unspecified amount. If a coach or other guest of a player leaves the bubble, that credential will be revoked, and the coach or guest will be required to leave the tournament hotel within 24 hours. The coach or guest would also be fined and prohibited from receiving a credential to the 2021 U.S. Open, the U.S.T.A. said.Several leading players, including the former U.S. Open champion Andy Murray, have lobbied recently for strong penalties for those who break health and safety protocols.Players staying in private housing instead of an official hotel must rent through the U.S.T.A. and abide by a safety plan. Players must pay all costs for 24-hour security that is approved, and capable of being monitored, by the U.S.T.A. Players in private housing are not permitted to stay with or receive visits from individuals who are not part of the officially approved entourage that is being tested by the U.S.T.A. for the virus.Each player is allowed to come with a maximum of three accredited guests or team members: up from one in the initial planning, which was a proposal that Djokovic criticized. But only one of those guests will be allowed access to competition areas, locker rooms, player dining and lounges.Locker rooms will be limited to 30 players at a time, with players encouraged to leave as soon as possible. In the absence of spectators, new outdoor fitness areas and outdoor lounge spaces are being created on-site.Players and their guests will be tested twice for the virus once they arrive, about 48 hours apart, and antibody tests will also be encouraged. Those who test positive for antibodies will be tested for the virus less frequently during the tournament.Those who test positive during the tournament will be withdrawn automatically and isolated for 10 days. Players who test positive upon arrival could still compete if they received medical clearance after the necessary isolation. If a player is sharing a hotel room with a guest and that guest tests positive during the event, the player will be automatically withdrawn.Players arriving from outside the United States will not face an additional quarantine requirement upon arrival in New York, according to the U.S.T.A. But it is still unclear whether players or their team members will face quarantine if they travel on to Europe for the clay-court season, although the U.S.T.A. said it was making “positive progress” on that front. More

On all but the two biggest show courts, line calls will be made by Hawk-Eye Live to reduce the number of people on site during the pandemic. More

Ashleigh Barty, the top-ranked women’s singles player, has confirmed that she will not play in the United States Open because of concerns about traveling during the coronavirus pandemic.Barty, 24, soared from outside the top 10 to No. 1 last year when she won the French Open and three other singles titles, including the WTA Finals in Shenzhen, China.She has also confirmed that she will not play the Western & Southern Open, an event normally played near Cincinnati that has been moved to New York this year to be staged at the U.S.T.A. Billie Jean King National Tennis Center ahead of the U.S. Open.The U.S. Open is still set to begin on Aug. 31. The last time the tournament was held without the top women’s singles player was 2010, when Serena Williams withdrew because of a foot injury.“I love both events so it was a difficult decision,” Barty said in a statement sent to Australian media outlets on Thursday. “But there are still significant risks involved due to Covid-19, and I don’t feel comfortable putting my team and I in that position.”Barty, who has been practicing in Brisbane in her native Australia, is the most prominent women’s player to withdraw from the U.S. Open, but she is unlikely to be the last, with No. 2 Simona Halep practicing on clay and committed to playing a clay-court event in Prague that begins on Aug. 10.“I respect every player’s decision,” said Stacey Allaster, the U.S. Open tournament director, who has been pushing hard with her staff to salvage the tournament, which will be played without spectators and with extensive health precautions. “Ash made her decision on what she thinks is best for her and her team. We wish her well, and I am looking forward to seeing her return to play as she is a fan favorite.”The Games ResumeSports and the VirusUpdated July 29, 2020Here’s what’s happening as the world of sports slowly comes back to life:Baseball’s botched return could be a warning for the N.F.L., which is returning without sequestering players. It may be too late for the league to change its plans.Baseball’s woes have the N.B.A. convinced that a “bubble” approach is the only kind that can work for team sports in the Covid-19 era.At least 17 members of the Miami Marlins, including 15 players, tested positive, throwing baseball’s schedule into turmoil.Halep and three other members of the women’s top 10 — No. 5 Elina Svitolina, No. 6 Bianca Andreescu and No. 10 Naomi Osaka — also have not entered the Western & Southern Open, which starts Aug. 20.Andreescu, a Canadian, is the reigning U.S. Open singles champion. Osaka, who represents Japan but has long lived in the United States, won the 2018 U.S. Open singles title and has become one of the sport’s biggest stars.Their management teams did not respond to messages on Wednesday inquiring whether they planned to play in the U.S. Open.Andreescu, 20, has not competed since last October after injuring her knee. She had hoped to return to play in the Miami Open in March, but that event was canceled because of the coronavirus. She initially committed publicly to defending her title at the U.S. Open.In a normal season, players would pay a significant price in the rankings for skipping a Grand Slam event, but both the men’s and women’s tours have adjusted their rankings to allow players to count their best result at an event from 2019 or 2020. That means Andreescu will keep the 2,000 points she acquired from winning the U.S. Open last year regardless of whether she plays this year.But Barty, who reached the fourth round of the U.S. Open in 2018 and 2019, has made it clear for months that she was uncertain about making the journey. Australia’s restrictions on international travel have also been a concern, with Australian citizens requiring an exemption to leave the country and then being required to quarantine for 14 days upon returning.Barty would most likely qualify for an exemption and may still travel to Europe in September to play in clay-court events and defend her French Open title. The French Open is scheduled to begin Sept. 21.“I will make my decision on the French Open and the surrounding WTA European tournaments in the coming weeks,” she said in her statement. More

In a season full of foiled plans and economic peril, the WTA Tour suffered its biggest blow on Thursday when it was forced to cancel its remaining tournaments in 2020 in China, including its lucrative tour championships: the WTA Finals in Shenzhen.The cancellations, confirmed by a tennis official who spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, came two weeks after a Chinese government sports agency recommended that the country call off most international sporting events for the remainder of the year because of the coronavirus pandemic.Steve Simon, the WTA’s chief executive, had expressed hope that China’s government and its tennis officials would allow the tournaments to proceed, just as it was allowing certain winter sports test events to go on ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.Negotiations proved unsuccessful, however, and the women’s tour will now have to cancel all seven events scheduled in October and November in China, which has rapidly become one the tour’s major markets and a key source of revenue.Simon could not immediately be reached for comment on Thursday. But in an interview earlier this month, he spoke about the potential impact of losing the China swing, including the WTA Finals, which provided a record $14 million in prize money in its first year in Shenzhen in 2019 with backing from primary sponsor Shiseido, a Japanese cosmetics company. More

The Citi Open in Washington, D.C., which was scheduled to restart the men’s tennis tour next month, has been canceled for 2020.The tournament was set to begin on Aug. 14 and serve as a lead-in event for the United States Open. But Mark Ein, the Citi Open chairman, said concern about international travel restrictions and recent trends in the coronavirus had led to the cancellation.“When we committed to host the event all the trends were going in our favor, and halfway through the process they all reversed,” Ein said by telephone on Tuesday. “Then we ran out of time. With a little more time we may have been able to overcome the obstacles that were in front of us, but it’s better to make a decision for all the stakeholders before it gets to the last minute.”The decision, made on Monday, will increase doubts about this year’s U.S. Open, which is scheduled to be played without spectators in New York from Aug. 31 to Sept. 13.But Stacey Allaster, the U.S. Open tournament director, reaffirmed Monday that plans remained on track for a doubleheader at the U.S.T.A. Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. The Western & Southern Open is to be played there from Aug. 22 to 28 as a prelude to the U.S. Open, with players and officials operating inside a health and safety “bubble” similar to those being used by the N.B.A. and other leagues. More

2020 was supposed to be a farewell tour for Bob and Mike Bryan, the incomparable tennis twins, who have long been the darlings of doubles. Then coronavirus canceled it. Will they try again? More

For professional tennis players, the coronavirus pandemic has meant canceled tournaments, lost income and frozen rankings, with the men’s and women’s tours putting their systems on hold in mid-March. Rankings are, in many respects, the coin of the tennis realm: the determining factor in players’ ability to enter events, receive seedings and even earn certain […] More

The French Open, played on red-clay courts, is known generally for being the most crowded Grand Slam tournament. Organizers say they are planning for as many as 20,000 fans daily. More