US Open 2020? Greg Rusedski sees great opportunities for tennis
Are the US Open 2020 taking place or not? It is the big question at the moment, and there are still no easy answers. Greg Rusedski, after all, has an interesting approach to why Flushing Meadows should be played.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Jun 01, 2020, 09:52 pm
The decision to hold the event should be made in mid-June. "The US Open want to bring their tournament through with all their might," says Herwig Straka , who sits on the ATP board and is also hoping for the decision from New York to advance planning on the tour. However, Todd Martin , himself on the board of the American Tennis Association for a long time, wonders how you want to play under all corona-safe conditions - even without a spectator.
Another ex-professional has now spoken, and one who has perhaps his best tennis memories of the US Open: namely Greg Rusedski, who surprisingly entered the final in 1997 and lost to Patrick Rafter, who also showed up surprisingly.
"We need to find a way to play the US Open this year, with or without a spectator," said the Canadian, who has switched under the British flag throughout his career, told tennis365.com . "As long as we can manage it for all players and everyone involved, then we can, yes we have to try it."
Tennis in 2020 - more fans in front of the TV?
Rusedski sees great opportunities for tennis. "Just think of the millions of fans around the world who would watch it if we brought tennis back. This is a chance to present tennis to an even greater number of viewers than normal. Even without an audience there we would have it a million times in front of the TV. " It would also be a unique experience, even without a spectator, that you would probably remember for a lifetime if you had played a major tournament during the Corona period.
Especially since compliance with the regulations would not be a problem according to Rusedski: the facility was huge, without viewers "social distancing" would not be a problem. Especially since the company headquarters would not be occupied, you could assign a separate area to all players involved.
Some players, including Roger Federer and Petra Kvitova , had recently been unhappy with the possibility of hosting a Grand Slam tournament without fans. Greg Rusedski, on the other hand, would play immediately if he were still active. "Getting live sports back on TV at all would be good because of a lot of things. Tennis and golf are the two easiest sports to keep to the distance rules. So we just have to see how we can do that. If you experiment with it, the We should get sport back if we did tennis and golf. "