Wimbledon champion Simona Halep is set to be one of the first high profile names to officially withdraw from this year’s US Open amid concerns over safety measures, according to two Romanian sources.
The speculation was triggered by a social media post from Nedelcu Iulian, who is a cameraman for Romanian channel Pro TV that has recently been filming Halep in training. According to Iulian, the former world No.1 has decided to finish off 2020 by playing tournaments in Europe only. Including the French Open which will take place a couple weeks after New York. Therefore she will also be absent from the Asian swing, which is the region where the COVID-19 outbreak started.
Și-a antrenat serviciul spre exteriorul terenului,@Simona_Halep a pus pariu cu antrenorul sau ca nimereste semnele puse pe teren pe 20 de flotari si le-a lovit din prima. Va participa in 2020 doar la turneele din Europa. pic.twitter.com/BkzqwWsnM5
— Nedelcu Iulian (@IulianNedelcu) June 16, 2020
Since then the Romanian branch of Eurosport have reported that Halep has confirmed to Pro TV that this is her intended plan. Although there has been no public announcement. During a recent email exchange with The New York Time, she admitted that she ‘has strong concerns’ over the measures that will be in place at the event. Those measures are yet to be confirmed by the USTA but are likely to include restricting how many members of a player’s team can be on site and holding the tournament behind closed doors.
“I definitely have strong concerns about going there with those conditions. Not only because we’re in the middle of a global pandemic. But also because of the risk of travel, potential quarantine, and then the changes around the tournament,” Halep said.
Coach Darren Cahill has also previously highlighted the issue during an interview with The Reuters News Agency. In the view of the Australian he believes that many players on the Tour could encounter problems in New York.
“From Simona’s point of view, you got to fly over from Romania, you need to spend four weeks in this one hotel in New York, and you can only bring one person,” said Cahill.
“Normally you have a physio, a hitting partner, trainer and maybe a coach or two. You’ve got to basically stay in this bubble with only one person for three or four weeks, and you have to be professional and compete at the highest level.
“So now there are going to be a lot of players that have an issue with that for sure.”
It has been feared that a series of top names could opt to not play the US Open this year due to the worldwide health crises. Novak Djokovic has previously admitted that one option he is considering for the upcoming weeks is concentrating fully on the clay. Meanwhile, Nick Kyrgios has branded the decision to hold the event as ‘selfish’ in light of current events.
Reports of Halep’s absence will be a major blow to the USTA, who have already struck an agreement with the ATP and WTA to host the event. They will not make an official statement concerning the 2020 tournament until the plan is approved by state officials in New York.
