MOSCOW, July 30. /TASS/. The World’s No. 1 female tennis player Ashleigh Barty of Australia decided to skip the Grand Slam tennis tournament in the United States next month, the 2020 US Open, as a precaution measure against the ongoing global spread of the novel coronavirus, the Australia-based Herald Sun daily reported on Thursday.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced last month that the prestigious Grand Slam tennis tournament in the United States, the 2020 US Open, would be hosted by New York in line with the initial schedule, namely between August 31 and September 13, but without spectators in attendance.
"My team and I have decided that we won’t be travelling to the US for the Western and Southern Open and the US Open this year," the 24-year-old Australian tennis star said in an interview with Herald Sun.
"I love both events so it was a difficult decision but there are still significant risks involved due to Covid-19 and I don’t feel comfortable putting my team and I in that position," she continued.
"I wish the USTA [the United States Tennis Association] all the best for the tournaments and look forward to being back in the US next year," Barty added.
This year’s two Grand Slam tournaments, namely the 2020 Wimbledon and the 2020 French Open have been cancelled and postponed correspondingly due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Barty also said that she would make a decision soon about travelling to Europe for taking part in the postponed 2020 French Open.
"I will make my decision on the French Open and the surrounding WTA European tournaments in the coming weeks," she stated.
The United States is currently the leading country in terms of confirmed novel coronavirus cases, which exceed 4,570,120. The COVID-19 death toll in the country is over 153,880. Over 2,246,220 patients have been reported to have recovered from the virus.
COVID-19
In late December 2019, Chinese officials informed the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus - named COVID-19 by the WHO - have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia.
On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. According to the latest statistics, over 17,201,200 people have been infected worldwide and more than 670,400 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 10,716,200 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.