By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursday June 11, 2020
Danielle Collins hopes that top players support the US Open and give lower-ranked players a chance to earn money.
Photo Source: Mark Peterson/Corleve
A zoom meeting which included over 400 ATP players has taken place, and three competing scenarios for the US Open Series have emerged, with another meeting and announcement set to occur on Monday June 15.
Three options currently on the table still allow for the complete cancellation of this year’s US Open, with the other two featuring different scenarios that have yet to be fully ironed out by the tours.
One scenario involves the playing of the Cincinnati Masters (Western and Southern Open) and the US Open at the site of the US Open in New York. Reportedly, this scenario would eliminate qualifiers from the US Open and significantly release the doubles draw from 64 to 24 teams.
Would be qualifiers, reportedly, would receive funds from a payout fund to compensate them.
The second scenario would cancel Cincinnati and play the full US Open with qualifiers and a full doubles draw.
All tennis, in both scenarios would take place without spectators and see players subjected to strict safety protocols. Limited entourages and no access to Manhattan, regular testing for Covid-19, and players staying at prescribed hotels near JFK, appear to be part of the plan.
Already there is a splintering of voices on the tours, with some top players expressing trepidations about subjecting themselves to the strict health and safety protocols that are being proposed. Novak Djokovic cited extreme measures and the fact that he’d have to significantly limit his entourage as a limiting factor of his interest in playing.
“I had a telephone conversation with the leaders of world tennis, there were talks about the continuation of the season, mostly about the US Open due in late August, but it is not known whether it will be held," Djokovic told Prva TV. "The rules that they told us that we would have to respect to be there, to play at all, they are extreme.”
Rafael Nadal, Stefanos Tsitsipas and other top players have communicated their mixed feelings and preached a need for patience and safety, while lower-ranked players are positioning themselves on the other side of the argument, saying that the top-ranked players should back them in their quest to earn some much-needed income in 2020.
"It is not ideal. Right now I would not like to go play a tennis tournament in New York," Nadal said last week. "But I do not know in two months because we do not know if the situation is going to improve.”
The scenarios call for a reduction in prize money payout at the US Open. The tournament says it would likely offer 95 percent of the total prize payout from the 2019 event.
American standout Danielle Collins has spoken out against top players for what she perceives to be their selfish motivations. She says lower-ranked players are desperately in need of the money and could use the help of the top players.
“No one has been able to play sanctioned events or make money since February,” she wrote on Instagram. “Here we have an awesome opportunity with the US Open talking about proceeding with the event. … It’s easy when someone’s made $150 million throughout their career, to try to tell people what to do with their money, and then turn down playing in the US Open. For those of us who don’t travel with an entourage, we actually need to start working again. It would be nice to have the best player in the world supporting this opportunity and not spoiling it for players and fans!”