Time for young guns to shine as veterans wane

NEW YORK • As the tennis tours warm up for the US Open in the summer heat of North America, the sport's most accomplished players will arrive in New York cold.

The four active players with the most Grand Slam singles titles - Serena Williams, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic - are missing from both this week's ATP Toronto and WTA Montreal events, and next week's Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.

The veterans have all played selective schedules this year, but their wholesale absence from the major warm-up tournaments to the year's final Slam, which begins on Aug 30, is striking.

Djokovic, 34, was the only one of the group to compete at the Tokyo Olympics; Federer, Nadal and Williams opted out.

After his bid to become the first male player to win the "Golden Slam" in Japan, the top-ranked Serb, who can still become the first man to win all four singles Majors in a calendar year since 1969, claimed he was fatigued and would take an extended break until Flushing Meadows.

Nadal, 35, is the only one of the group to have played a warm-up event in North America.

After withdrawing from both Wimbledon and the Olympics with a left foot injury, he played two matches at the Citi Open in Washington, before losing in the round of 16.

After further practice sessions, the Spaniard pulled out of Toronto earlier this week citing a foot injury, raising more doubts about his fitness level ahead of the US Open.

Federer, who turned 40 on Sunday, cited the knee injury that forced him out of the Olympics in withdrawing from Toronto and Cincinnati.

Williams, who turns 40 next month, cited a leg injury in withdrawing from Cincinnati.

When Austria's Dominic Thiem won last year's US Open aged 27, he did so without having to face any of the "Big Three".

Nadal and Federer both missed the tournament, and Djokovic defaulted from his fourth-round match after hitting a lineswoman with a ball.

Thiem, who has been out of competition since June, remains the only man born in the 1990s to have won a men's singles Slam but his peers sense a repeat next month.

Asked about the absence of established stars in the wake of Nadal's withdrawal, third-ranked Stefanos Tsitsipas, 23, pointed out the problem's upside.

"I think there is room for new stars," the Greek said. "It's been a lot about them in recent years, and I think now it's showing that things are changing.

"We see a different generation of players stepping up and showing what they are capable of.

"It's interesting to have this kind of variation and change of thrones, let's call it. It's interesting for our game."

Spectators will not be allowed to attend qualifying rounds at the US Open, although the United States Tennis Association said in June it would allow full fan capacity for the main draw, making it the first Slam to have full attendance amid the Covid-19 pandemic since the Australian Open last year.

REUTERS, NYTIMES