MOSCOW, August 31. /TASS, Andrey Kartashov/. Russian tennis player Andrey Rublev told TASS on Monday that he is content with his physical shape ahead of the 2020 US Open, but lacks a bit of confidence due to a long break in the season, caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic.
The 2020 US Open kicks off on Monday in New York and the prestigious Grand Slam tournament is offering $53.4 million in prize money up for grabs. The 22-year-old Rublev is 10-seed at the tournament and is set to face in the first round unseeded Jeremy Chardy of France (currently No. 60 in ATP Rankings).
"I am satisfied with my physical shape," Rublev said in an interview with TASS. "But obviously, due to the very long break I am not as confident as I used to be since it is difficult to find my game rhythm."
"But this is normal as I need to get through it; to win one, two, or three matches in order to start feeling the rhythm and the game," he went on to say.
The Russian tennis player, who is currently rated by the ATP Rankings as the World’s No. 14, also said: "It is obvious that I wish to play at the tournament as best as I can, however, I don’t know myself and cannot predict at the moment how well I could be playing [at the 2020 US Open]."
"On the whole, I miss playing tennis very much and I am eager to hit the courts as soon as possible. So, let it be, no matter what result I achieve at the upcoming tournament," he added.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced in June 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.
Asked by a TASS correspondent whether Rublev was not afraid to perform at the US Open amid the ongoing spread of the novel coronavirus, Rublev said: "It is not about a fear, because I simply understand that the current situation [with the coronavirus] will be around for a long time and we will have to play under such conditions not only during this US Open."
"I think that we [tennis players] will probably have to play under the same conditions at the beginning of next year as well," he continued. "I don’t think that everything will be back to the normal way of things by 2021, therefore I don’t see what difference it will make if [we] start playing right now or in four months’ time. On the whole, I am tired of being idle and I want to play."
"It’s difficult to say at the moment how it feels to play without spectators in attendance," Rublev noted. "However, the organizers, and the coaching staff will certainly be in attendance and this is why the stands will not be completely empty of spectators."
"On top of it all, I heard that there will be video screens mounted on the perimeter of the courts, just like they do now at the NBA [the US-based National Basketball Association] displaying all fans watching the match in real-time," the Russian tennis player stated. "To be honest, I am more than happy now to be finally back playing again and haven’t really given any thought [about the spectators in attendance]."
A number of international tennis players decided earlier against going to New York for the 2020 US Open amid the ongoing global spread of the novel coronavirus and among them were World’s No. 1 female tennis player Ashleigh Barty of Australia, World’s No. 2 male tennis player Rafael Nadal of Spain, Dutch player Kiki Bertens (currently ranked 7th by the WTA), Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina (ranked 5th by the WTA), Swiss tennis star Stan Wawrinka (currently ranked 15th by the ATP), Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Svetlana Kuznetsova, as well as Romania’s Simona Halep.
The United States is currently the leading country in terms of confirmed novel coronavirus cases, which exceed 6,175,000. The COVID-19 death toll in the country is over 187,230. Yet, more than 3,425,900 patients have been reported to recover 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 25,400,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 850,870 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 17,716,700 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.