Tennis makes its return to the grand slam stage with the 2020 U.S. Open on Monday Aug. 31 in New York, but several notable names have opted out of the event, citing coronavirus concerns.
Let's take a look at what stars won't be playing in the first major tournament since the 2020 Australian Open in January:
Rafael Nadal
The defending U.S. Open champion announced this month on Instagram that he would forgo the tournament this year for health and safety reasons.
Roger Federer
The 5-time U.S. Open champ will not see visit Flushing Meadows this month due to a knee surgery that ended his 2020 campaign entirely.
Nick Kyrgios
Australia's Kyrgios has been vocal about the seriousness of the pandemic, and in a video with UNINTERRUPTED, he discussed his decision to skip the tournament.
Stan Wawrinka, the 2016 U.S. Open champ, is sitting this year out due to COVID-19 concerns in New York, as well as men's world No. 9 Gael Monfils and No. 11. Fabio Fognini.
Bianca Andreescu
Andreescu was only 19 years old when she claimed her first major, beating Serena Williams in the 2019 U.S. Open final.
But she won’t be defending the title in 2020.
Ashleigh Barty
The top-ranked women's singles player announced in July that she won't be traveling to the Western hemisphere to play due to coronavirus concerns.
Simona Halep
After winning the Prague Open on Sunday, the women's world No. 2 announced she's opting out of this year’s trip to New York.
In addition, women's world No. 5 Elina Svitolina and No. 7 Kiki Bertens are both opting out due to travel concerns.
The 2004 U.S. Open champ Svetlana Kuznetsova and 2011 champ Sam Stosur also pulled out of this year's U.S. Open.
Stay tuned for more updates.
