Players in the top 20 of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) rankings may refuse to participate in the US Open due to the coronavirus pandemic, sports publication Marca reported on August 6.
As it became known to the portal, last weekend tennis players from the top twenty of the rating, which is headed by Serb Novak Djokovic, held an online meeting, where they discussed their probable withdrawal from the Grand Slam tournament.
In particular, athletes want to get guarantees that after the US Open they will not have to quarantine for two weeks in order to return to European clay tournaments.
In addition, tennis players oppose a clause in the medical protocol of the competition, according to which a player will be expelled if a member of his team tests positive for COVID-19.
It is noted that the United States Tennis Association (USTA) and the ATP have already initiated urgent negotiations with tennis players to resolve the issues that have arisen.
The US Open Tennis Championships will take place as originally scheduled from August 31 to September 13. Since 1978, the US Open has been held at the Billie Jean King National Center in New York
In May, the USTA considered moving the US Open from New York to another city due to the coronavirus outbreak, but scrapped the idea.