US Open tennis still in works

US Tennis Association chief Stacey Allaster says a decision on whether the US Open takes place in August will be made in the next two to four weeks but for now plans are going ahead.

Those plans include charter flights to ferry US Open tennis players and limited entourages from Europe, South America and the Middle East to New York, and centralised housing for players.

All players will also have to test negative to COVID-19 before travelling and will be subjected to daily temperature checks.

There would be no spectators, fewer on-court officials and no locker room access on practice days. All are among the scenarios being considered for the 2020 US Open — if it is held at all amid the coronavirus pandemic — and described by a high-ranking official at the grand slam tournament.

“All of this is still fluid,” said Stacey Allaster, the US Tennis Association’s chief executive for professional tennis. “We have made no decisions at all.”

With that caveat, Allaster added if the USTA board decides to go ahead with the

Open, she expects it to be held at its usual site and usual spot on the calendar. The main draw is scheduled to start August 31.

“We continue to be, I would say, 150 per cent focused on staging a safe environment for conducting a US Open at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre in New York on our dates,” Allaster said. “The idea of an alternative venue, an alternative date … we’ve got a responsibility to explore it, but it doesn’t have a lot of momentum.” An announcement should come from “mid-June to end of June”, Allaster said.