US Open 2020 in Indian Wells?
The organizers of the US Open are playing for time, a decision on the staging of the Grand Slam tournament (August 31 to September 13) should be made in June at the latest, according to official information.
by SID / red
last edit: Apr 25, 2020, 01:35 pm
However, the US tennis association USTA apparently is also looking to move away from the corona virus hotspot New York to the California desert in addition to the hoped-for hostage in Flushing Meadows. This reports the Spanish sports daily Marca.
Accordingly, the tournament could be held in Indian Wells. The extensive facility has sufficient capacity. The main square with its 16,100 seats is the second largest tennis court in the world, right after the Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York. There are a total of 29 hard courts in Indian Wells, 23 of which have floodlights. Last year Dominic Thiem won his first ATP Masters 1000 title with men, Bianca Andreescu remained successful with a final victory over Angelique Kerber in women. The Canadian also won the US Open later that year.
New York City hit hard by the pandemic
The hard court tournament, which is scheduled every year in March and is headed by former German top player Tommy Haas, has 96 main field players for men and women, comparable to the number of players in the four Grand Slam tournaments with main fields of 128 professionals.
New York is the metropolis most affected by the corona pandemic in the United States. More than 16,000 people fell victim to the virus in the metropolitan area alone. In addition, a makeshift hospital has been built on the Flushing Meadows tennis facility to treat corona patients.
USTA chief Mike Dowse said in mid-April that the US Open was "a very unrealistic scenario" without spectators.