Philipp Kohlschreiber: "Many players are looking into the near future with a stomachache"
Doubts about the successful running of the US Open this year are also growing among players. Germany's number two, Philipp Kohlschreiber, is also skeptical that the tour in America should be resumed.
by SID / tennisnet
last edit:
Jul 18, 2020, 08:25 am
Philipp Kohlschreiber doubts that the US Open will be held in New York because of the corona pandemic. "There are still many question marks behind everything. In America, the number of cases is extremely high. Many players are facing the near future with abdominal pain," said the 36-year-old from Augsburger Allgemeine (Saturday edition).
Most recently, the United States set new negative records for new infections every day, most recently over 75,000 within 24 hours. Although New York City is not currently one of the COVID-19 hotspots within the United States, the megacity had already had to fight a massive outbreak of the virus in March. Over 140,000 people in the United States have already died of COVID-19, and over 3.5 million have been infected with the virus.
"Not the right time yet"
The Grand Slam tournament is scheduled to take place from August 31 to September 13, and the number of infections is currently rising rapidly in many parts of the USA. The question arises, "whether it makes sense in this context. A little more than 50 percent of me say that at least in America it is not the right time to start again," said Kohlschreiber.
With Angelique Kerber and Michael Kohlmann , two greats of German tennis have already expressed their skepticism about the organization of the US Open, and the second place in the world rankings for women, Simona Halep, considers it unlikely to compete in the second Grand Slam of the year.
Kohlschreiber: "Can spread like wildfire"
Every player and coach must adhere to the rules, Kohlschreiber said: "If someone goes out and catches something, it can spread like wildfire. And nobody knows how many people who have tested positive so that the tournament does not is canceled. "
Most recently, Novak Djokovic's Adriatic tour had negative headlines because several players were infected with the virus. Kohlschreiber could "not blame the participants" because "it was allowed in the country at the time". "Still, it was unwise, maybe naive," said Kohlschreiber.