Tennis' U.S. Open Has Not Been Postponed But If the Schedule Doesn't Change the Structure Certainly Will

The U.S. Open is still scheduled for the end of August going into September, but not much else is clear about how one of the biggest events in tennis will look this year. SI's Jon Wertheim shares his updates on the tournament and the ways the ongoing coronavirus pandemic might change the structure.

Video Transcript:

The big question in tennis right now is whether the U.S. Open will go on as planned. Again, it is scheduled for late, late August and early September. The middle weekend is always Labor Day weekend. And as it stands now, there are still plans in the works to hold this event. It will look very different. There will be no fans, for starters. There will be no hospitality. There may only be one coach or trainer per player. There will probably not be one locker room, but many locker rooms scattered throughout the grounds.

What is unsure is who will play. So let's assume this event goes off, which is still not certain. This has not gotten official sign-off from local, state, and federal government. But even if this event were to occur, what is going to happen? We don't know who is going to play right now. Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal, Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic, none of them have formally committed. On the other hand, we did get some good news the other day when Chad Wolf, who is the acting secretary for Homeland Security, he said that there would be no quarantine for overseas athletes coming to the U.S. for sporting events. He mentioned tennis in particular.

Chad Wolf is a former college tennis player himself. But what that means is if Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic, if they did play, they would not have to quarantine. So, again, as it stands right now, the U.S. Open is a go. That's subject to change. But right now, look for the U.S. Open to occur. It will just look very, very different. And it's unclear which stars will commit.

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