US Open [Men] - Grand Slam

[Moxie]

DATE: August 31 - September 13, 2020
SURFACE: Hard
PRIZE MONEY: $21,656,000
FIELD SIZE: 128
DEFENDING CHAMPION: Rafael Nadal

Seeds:

1. Novak Djokovic
2. Dominic Thiem
3. Daniil Medvedev
4. Stefanos Tsitsipas
5. Alexander Zverev
6. Matteo Berrettini
7. David Goffin
8. Roberto Bautista Agut
9. Diego Schwartzman
10. Andrey Rublev
11. Karen Khachanov
12. Denis Shapovalov
13. Cristian Garin
14. Grigor Dimitrov
15. Felix Auger-Aliassime
16. John Isner
17. Benoit Paire
18. Dusan Lajovic
19. Taylor Fritz
20. Pablo Carreno Busta
21. Alex de Minaur
22. Nikoloz Basilashvili
23. Daniel Evans
24. Hubert Hurkacz
25. Milos Raonic
26. Filip Krajinovic
27. Borna Coric
28. Jan-Lennard Struff
29. Guido Pella
30. Casper Ruud
31. Marin Cilic
32. Adrian Mannarino

The Tournament:

The US Open Tennis Championships began life as the U.S. National Championship in 1881. It is a hard court tournament, but was for much of its long duration a grass tournament, and was for a few years even played on clay.

The venue for the championship is the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, Corona Park, Queens, New York City. The BJKTC has 3 courts with a retractable roof: Arthur Ashe stadium, the main show court, the newly renovated Louis Armstrong Stadium and another new show court finished in 2016 to replace the old Grandstand.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament will be played with no spectators, and some adjustments to the usual format. The tournament normally consists of men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles, and mixed doubles, with additional tournaments for senior, junior, and wheelchair players.

This year, in order to promote physical distancing between players, their teams and all tournament personnel the field as been reduced as follows:

Men's and Women's Singles: There will be no qualifying. The top 120 players will play.

Men's and Women's Doubles: The field will be reduced to 32 teams. No player who plays in singles will be permitted to play doubles.

Mixed Doubles: Will not be contested this year.

Wheelchair: After initially being excluded, and after a controversy, will be played that last 4 days of the tournament.

Line calling: Ashe and Armstrong will use line judges. All other courts will you electronic line calling only.

About New York City:

The Big Apple. The City that Never Sleeps.

Immortalized by the greats: Frank Sinatra, E.B. White, the Ramones. Fashion center, jazz and rap mecca, great melting pot of cultures, and past and present home and inspiration to countless writers, artists, musicians, entrepreneurs and hucksters.

New York City has 5 boroughs, of which Manhattan is only one, though the most famous. But the tennis is played in Queen’s, which has a fascination all its own. It is the geographically largest borough in NYC, but second in population to Brooklyn, and is the most ethnically diverse. There are 138 languages spoken in Queens, of the 800 recorded in all of NYC. Queens boasts one of the largest Greek communities outside of Greece, the 3rd largest Bosnian population in the US; it has the largest concentration of Ecuadorians, Peruvians, Salvadorans in the city, and its largest concentration of Asians and South Asians, with some of the neighborhoods still very high in concentrations of Italian, Irish and Jewish populations, which are more long-entrenched. There are so many small pockets of great ethnic food here that people from all over the city make pilgrimages to the various neighborhoods to "eat their way around the world."

Prominent figures who hail from Queen’s: Johnny Ramone, Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel, Donald Trump, Nicki Minaj, Kareem Abdul-Jabar, and John McEnroe.

Louis Armstrong, though he was originally from New Orleans and hugely associated with that city, bought a house in a working class neighborhood in Corona, Queens, and lived the last 28 years of his life there. The house is a landmark, which is open to the public. It is very near BJK Tennis Center, and why the stadium is named after him. Before Ashe was built, it was the largest show court at the facility.

Tourism Guide:




TV Coverage:

ESPN: United States and the Pacific commonwealth, Puerto Rico

ESPN International: Latin America Territory (Mexico, Central and South America, Ascension Island), Caribbean (other than Bermuda, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands) and Oceania (Australia, New Zealand and Pacific)

TSN: Canada

beIN Sports: Algeria, Bahrain, Chad, Djibouti, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestinian Territories, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen

CCTV: China

Tencent: China

Eurosport: Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Commonwealth of Independent States (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan), Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Vatican State, Non-Exclusive: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Syria and Tunisia

Fox Sports Asia: Brunei, Cambodia, China, East Timor, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam

ORG: Austria

Prime Video: United Kingdom, Ireland

SRG SSR: Switzerland

Star India: India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka

Tennis Channel: United States

Wowow: Japan

Globostat: Brazil

SuperSport: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Comoros, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Reunion, Rwanda, Sao Tome & Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Socotra, South Africa, St. Helena and Ascension, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zanzibar, Zimbabwe, Non-Exclusive: Chad, Djibouti, Mauritania, Somalia (Somaliland), South Sudan and Sudan.

 

[tented]

The Draws:

 

[Nadalfan2013]

1) It's just too boring without the man who won it 4 of the last 8 times he has entered it, the USO King Rafael Nadal.

2) As a Canadian I'm rooting first and foremost for Auger Aliassime and Raonic, two Canadians who are a class act. I'm not much of a fan of racket breaker and brat Shapovalov, his violent bad attitude reminds me of Djokovic when he's losing.

3) I'd also love to see class act Dominic Thiem win his first slam so why not here at the USO!

4) It's very disappointing that the 3 players I'm rooting for are all in the same quarter.

5) Hopefully Djokovic overplayed and is too tired from the last tournament. He's still the clear favorite and his easy draw also helps. But jeez he is just too boring to watch and not likeable at all.

 

[AnonymousFan]

 

[Jelenafan]

Geeze that was fast.

 

[Bonaca]

1) I would like to see Marin in the F against Novak, but that’s far from reality.
2) My second wish for final opponent are the two class acts Daniil from Russia or Miloš Raonić from Montenegro!
3) It would be nice to see Novak putting away the Greek Steffi.
5) Biggest side-wish: Missy Thiem losing early. She is the one I mostly dislike.

Let’s enjoy this grand slam tennis!

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Geeze that was fast.

Paire.withdrawn after testing positive has been replaced in the draw by Marcel Granollers he will play Kamil Majchrzak.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Paire.withdrawn after testing positive has been replaced in the draw by Marcel Granollers he will play Kamil Majchrzak.

Paire was asymptomatic,it has also been reported that other French players,Gasquet,Mannarino,Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Gregoire Barrere have been asked to stay at their hotel until further notice.

 

[Moxie]

Paire was asymptomatic,it has also been reported that other French players,Gasquet,Mannarino,Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Gregoire Barrere have been asked to stay at their hotel until further notice.

According to travel restrictions, the players must have been given exemptions to travel into the US. Were they tested upon arrival by the ITP? Why are the French players being isolated? Is the thinking that Paire brought it in from France? That seems to be the implication, if the various players, regardless of nationality aren't allowed to fraternize. Maybe they got it during travel? Because it can take some days to test positive.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

According to travel restrictions, the players must have been given exemptions to travel into the US. Were they tested upon arrival by the ITP? Why are the French players being isolated? Is the thinking that Paire brought it in from France? That seems to be the implication, if the various players, regardless of nationality aren't allowed to fraternize. Maybe they got it during travel? Because it can take some days to test positive.

This is what I have read,Paire arrived in NYC on the very last possible day to compete in Cincinnati,four days before his first match against Borna Coric,he retired while down 60 10 and looked visibly ill.Apparently it took a couple of tests before he tested positive,that is quite usual,sometimes people take 3 tests before they received a positive result.Contact tracing has been initiated to determine if anyone must quarantine for 14 days.In regards to the other French players being asked to stay in their hotel,this would be a precautionary matter to see if they are also positive,I would say they are awaiting results.

 

[tented]

 

[Moxie]

This is what I have read,Paire arrived in NYC on the very last possible day to compete in Cincinnati,four days before his first match against Borna Coric,he retired while down 60 10 and looked visibly ill.Apparently it took a couple of tests before he tested positive,that is quite usual,sometimes people take 3 tests before they received a positive result.Contact tracing has been initiated to determine if anyone must quarantine for 14 days.In regards to the other French players being asked to stay in their hotel,this would be a precautionary matter to see if they are also positive,I would say they are awaiting results.

This is so interesting. The implication is that, for all of their protocols, to let someone fly in so late is a bit careless. And if he was sick after 4 days here, he brought it from France, most likely, right, or en route? I know the players resisted the notion of coming and quarantining before play, but this seems to imply that perhaps they should have. And how is this going to work when they go straight back to Europe and play without quarantine? I really want this to work out, but I fear that the international travel is going to bite tennis in the ass.

 

[Moxie]

Interesting day on the Men's side. Djokovic apparently didn't ask for a Tuesday start. And Zverev and Anderson, already. Plus, Mannarino is playing...so much for isolating him.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

This is so interesting. The implication is that, for all of their protocols, to let someone fly in so late is a bit careless. And if he was sick after 4 days here, he brought it from France, most likely, right, or en route? I know the players resisted the notion of coming and quarantining before play, but this seems to imply that perhaps they should have. And how is this going to work when they go straight back to Europe and play without quarantine? I really want this to work out, but I fear that the international travel is going to bite tennis in the ass.

I have always been a advocator of having to quarantine especially in all international travel.,Paire probably picked it up in Paris or on a plane,if there was no social distancing on the plane,I hope he was wearing a mask on the plane,wearing masks in Paris is now mandatory.Hopefully there will be no more instances.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Interesting day on the Men's side. Djokovic apparently didn't ask for a Tuesday start. And Zverev and Anderson, already. Plus, Mannarino is playing...so much for isolating him.

Just read this on Twitter from Jose Morgado,

11 players had 'close' contact with Paire,(both men and women) and they will play the tournament.They have been given a new documentation to sign.Don't have access to some area's but still can practice and play.Are the USTA contradicting themselves from Cincinnati (Pella) last week?.

 

[Fiero425]

OMG, it so dead for a major to be going on! People should be at home watching and blogging away! You know you're getting old when past champion's kids are playing in an event! I heard Borg's son is coming along, but has a little ways to go to make to tour! Korda's son is playing Shapo at the moment in the 1st Rd.! He's giving Den all he wants and more already splitting sets, but up a break on the newbie!

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

No 9 seed Diego Schwartzman was serving for the match,Cam Norrie saved 2MPs broke back and won the 4hr match 36 46 62 61 75
Highest mens' seed out so far today.

 

[tented]

No 9 seed Diego Schwartzman was serving for the match,Cam Norrie saved 2MPs broke back and won the 4hr match 36 46 62 61 75
Highest mens' seed out so far today.

Is it too late to change my draw picks?

 

[Moxie]

Is it too late to change my draw picks?

Exactly what I was thinking.

 

[Jelenafan]

And of course I forgot about the draw challenge.