US Open will have 'weakest' field of pro era

NEW YORK • This will be the most unusual US Open in history, with no spectators, an all-but-empty Arthur Ashe Stadium and players following extensive health and safety guidelines because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The tournament will also have the weakest women's field in its history in terms of top-10 players.

The latest blow came on Monday when world No. 2 Simona Halep withdrew. Leading players have continued to withdraw despite New York's low rate of infections and event organisers' efforts to create a strictly monitored environment for players and their teams.

Six of the top eight women are out, including world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty of Australia, Elina Svitolina of Ukraine (No. 5), Bianca Andreescu of Canada (No. 6), Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands (No. 7) and Belinda Bencic of Switzerland (No. 8).

That leaves the hard-court Grand Slam, scheduled for Aug 31, without three of the four reigning Grand Slam women's singles champions. Barty won last year's French Open, Halep last year's Wimbledon and Andreescu last year's US Open.

Fourth-ranked American Sofia Kenin, the surprise winner of this year's Australian Open, is the only reigning champion in the field.

But the women's tournament is hardly without major star power or storylines. Serena Williams, 38, is still aiming for a record-tying 24th Major singles title at a tournament where she has had six triumphs.

Ranked ninth, she will be among the top four seeds. Czech Karolina Pliskova will be seeded at No. 1, Kenin at No. 2, Williams at No. 3 and Naomi Osaka of Japan at No. 4.

"The biggest hit to the tournament would be Serena not playing," said Tracy Austin, a two-time US Open champion who is now a Tennis Channel analyst.

"With Serena, you still have the biggest storyline with her going for 24."

Women's tennis is particularly deep and egalitarian at the moment. Plenty of other established threats are still in the field, including Czech Petra Kvitova.

There are also new threats like 16-year-old Coco Gauff.

But there is no ignoring reality, either, and there could be another big-name pull-out in Garbine Muguruza. The resurgent Spaniard and two-time Slam winner, who lost to Kenin in the Melbourne final, on Monday tweeted that she would skip the Western & Southern Open and is in a race to be fit for Flushing Meadows.

On the final warm-up tournament, which starts tomorrow, she said: "I have decided to withdraw due to discomfort in my left ankle. I really want to get back on Tour."

Referring to 1968, the year when tennis first went fully professional, Austin said: "This definitely has to be the weakest US Open of the Open era.

"There might have been some Australian and French Opens that were not as well attended, but that was obviously not because of the pandemic.

"It was because not everyone was playing them at the time. The Halep withdrawal is a particularly tough one. But I think the USTA is doing the best they can in a difficult situation."

In total, 19 of the top 100 women have withdrawn, and more attrition is possible in the days ahead with former world No. 1, Angelique Kerber of Germany, among the undecided.

The vast majority of absentees have concerns about travelling during the pandemic or about managing a dense tournament schedule that, after a five-month hiatus, has packed two Slam tournaments into a six-week period.

The French Open is due to start on Sept 27, just two weeks after the end of the US Open and the prospect of changing continents and surfaces quickly has led to some players prioritising the clay-court circuit.

The men's side has certainly taken major hits as well. Among the absentees include world No. 2 and reigning champion Rafael Nadal, Gael Monfils, Stan Wawrinka, while Roger Federer is out due to injury.

Still, at this stage, only three of the top-10 men and nine of the top 100 are missing from the US Open field. It is unclear why more of the leading European men have decided to play in New York than the leading European women.

"I don't think it has anything to do with being men or women," said Sven Groeneveld, who has coached the former top-ranked women Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic. "It comes down to personal reasons and individual decisions."

NYTIMES