French tennis veteran Richard Gasquet is yet to finalise his plans for returning to the Tour but has confirmed that he intends to play at the US Open.
The former Grand Slam semi-finalist missed the first month of this year due to injury and has only played seven competitive matches before the sport came to a halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March. The ATP Tour is set to resume on August 14th at the Citi Open in Washington in what will be the start of a packed schedule. Within seven weeks two grand slams and three Masters 1000 events are set to take place.
Speaking about the return of the sport, 35-year-old Gasquet has said many of his rivals will have to be careful with their commitments in order to avoid injury. Something that Canada’s Milos Raonic has previously expressed concerns about. The Frenchman has described the partly revamped calendar as ‘crazy.’ The ATP is still to decide on what their plan will be beyond the French Open and if they will be hosting events in Asia, which the WTA has already committed to.
“The schedule they have given us is practically crazy. A lot of important tournaments in a short time. It is simply grotesque, but I understand that everyone wants to save their tournaments. They need the dispute of their tournaments to obtain economic benefits,” Gasquet told Le Parisien.
“Now it is the players who have to decide on which tournaments to play and which ones to not, but the best players on the circuit who will play in the final rounds and therefore have a lot of games, are going to have to make a schedule according to their physical condition in order to avoid injuries that could make them miss out what’s left of the season.”
One of the most debated events taking place is the US Open, which will be held without fans for the first time in history. Players will be subjected to numerous testing throughout the tournament and be kept in essentially a ‘bubble’ in order to minimise the threat of COVID-19. They will also be limited to taking three guests with them to the event. It was originally reported that the USTA wanted there to be only one guest before there was some backlash from players.
“If there are no problems, my intention is to play the US Open, but if the tournament is held tomorrow I confirm that I would not go. There are many unknowns about the tournament dispute and currently the United States is the country with the most infections in the world,” said Gasquet.
“”It is better for tournaments to be held under these conditions than not, but obviously losing a lot of emotion playing games behind closed doors. It is important that tennis is restarted like other sports and with televisions everything is easier to be able to watch all the games. In Germany, the Bundesliga has never had as much television audience as it does right now. People need sport and I’m sure tennis would gain much more television viewing.” He later added.
World No.50 Gasquet returned to action yesterday at the Ultimate Tennis Showdown, which is being played under a unique scoring format and rules. Taking on Dominic Thiem, he rallied to a surprise 16-10, 15-12, 16-12, 14-17, win over the Australian Open finalist.
Gasquet has won 15 ATP titles and earned more than $18 million in prize money so far in his career.
