US Open 2020 To Reconsider Wheelchair Event Despite Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer’s Support

A few days ago, US Open 2020 announced their event will take place as per the scheduled dates i.e., from August 31 to September 13, 2020, despite the coronavirus pandemic being far from over.

To abide by the new norms and limiting the number of people in a particular area, the US Open took down the wheelchair, mixed doubles, and junior events from its 2020 edition.

World Number one wheelchair tennis player  Dylan Alcott was unhappy upon learning about the cancelation of the event.  “It is blatant discrimination for able-bodied people to decide on my behalf what I do with my LIFE AND CAREER just because I am disabled. Not good enough,” he tweeted after US Open revealed the news.

Also, the legends of the sports Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Andy Murray came in support of Alcott. But sadly, the tournament hasn’t come up with a productive decision.

“I actually spoke to Andy Murray on the phone for 30 minutes last night, he’s publicly this morning backed us wheelchair tennis players online, which is awesome. I know a lot of the top players, the likes of Federer and Novak are reaching out internally to try and help because they love wheelchair tennis as well,” Dylan said.

Read More – Murray, Djokovic and Federer Back Wheelchair Tennis After US Open Omission

After receiving a substantial amount of criticism on the matter, USTA announced its take on the US Open Wheelchair Competition in 2020. They are yet ‘to finalize their approach’ to hosting the wheelchair edition in 2020. They will also be working with ITF to look into the matter.

US Open 2020 official statement

“The USTA also committed to working with the players and the ITF to explore a number of potential scenarios for the Wheelchair Competition to determine the best approach moving forward for the athletes and the competition,” USTA stated.

“The USTA expects to gather player feedback on their perspective and work with the ITF to finalize an approach to the 2020 US Open Wheelchair Competition.”

World Number one Alcott is a career Grand Slam champion in singles. Also in the doubles domain in the year 2019, he became the only male tennis player to complete the Calendar-Year Grand Slam by winning all four Majors.