Defending Champion, Rafael Nadal will skip the US Open because of the Coronavirus pandemic, putting on hold his bid to equal Roger Federer’s men’s record for Grand Slam titles.
Nadal explained his decisions in both English and Spanish on his twitter handle via tweets were he said “The situation is very complicated worldwide, the COVID-19 cases are increasing, it looks like we still don’t have control of it, ” Nadal wrote.
The 34-tear old from Spain called sitting out the tournament scheduled to begin August 31, in New york, “a decision I never wanted to take,” but added that he would “rather not travel.”
“Rafa is one of the greatest champion in our sport and we respect his decisions,” US Open tournament director, Stacey Allaster said.
The professional tennis tours have been suspended since March because of Covid-19 outbreak, with play set to resume for both Tennis Women on Monday in Palermo and for Men, later this month.
Nadal’s plan to skip The US Open came shortly after the rescheduled Spanish open l, earlier slated for September was totally Cancelled due to the pandemic.
“We know that the reduced tennis calendar is barbaric this year after four months stopped with no play,” Nadal wrote on Twitter. “I understand and thank for the efforts they are putting in to make it happen.”
Rafael Nadal won last year’s US Open, defeating Daniil Medvedev 7-5, 6-3, 5-7, 4-6, and 6-4 in 4 hours, 50 minutes. That gave him his fourth US Open title and a total of 19 grandslam titles across all competitions just one short of Federer’s career mark.
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