One of Italy’s greatest tennis players of all time has said the decision to allow the US Open to go ahead this year is ‘madness’ as he slams the proposals being brought into place at the event this year.
Adriano Panatta, who is best known for winning the 1976 French Open, has said if he was still playing he would have not attended the US Open due to the current COVID-19 pandemic. There have been more deaths related to the virus in America than any other country in the world. To minimise the risk, the United States Tennis Association (USTA) has implemented various measures including holding the event behind closed doors and conducting regular testing. However, 70-year-old Panatta remains a fierce critic.
“In these conditions I would not have gone,” he said during an interview with IL Foglio.
“I reiterate that in my opinion going to the US Open this year is madness. Obviously everyone is free to do what they want, but in my opinion there are no minimum conditions to take the field with the right serenity”.
Continuing his criticism, former world No.4 says he believes this year’s New York event will be ‘less fascinating’ due to these restrictions. Those attending the Western and Southern Open, which has been relocated to New York, and the US Open are being kept in a ‘bubble.’ Players are limited as to where they will be able to travel within the city and face expulsion from the tournaments if they break the rules.
“Whoever goes will be able to bring with him a maximum of three staff members and will have to live locked up in a “bubble” as if he were a competitor of a Big Brother of tennis,” he said.
“It is all too evident that all these limitations make this edition less fascinating and probably also not very significant.”
Panatta is the last Italian man to have won a Grand Slam title. During his career, he recorded 387 wins on the ATP Tour and claimed 10 titles. After retiring from the sport, he had stints as his country’s Davis Cup captain and was in charge of the Prestigious Italian Open.
The former player drew parallels between this year’s US Open and the 1973 Wimbledon Championships, which was also hampered by a series of high-profile withdrawals but for a different reason. In 1973 81 players boycotted the event in support of Niki Pilic who was banned from playing in the Grand Slam by his national federation after missing a Davis Cup tie. The stand off was between the recently formed ATP and the traditional organisations.
“That year Jan Kodes won (Wimbledon) by beating Alex Metreveli in the final, but it was a tournament obviously distorted by the many absences and that the Czechoslovakian would never have won if it hadn’t been for that mutiny,” he states.
Another aspect the Panatta is finding difficult with the US Open concerns the absence of fans.
“Playing without an audience is terrifying. I think that sport finds its natural completion in the spectators, the empty stands are desolating and demotivating,” Panatta concludes.
The US Open will start on August 31st.
