New York Governor Cuomo Okays US Open Plan without Fans

(June 16, 2020) New York’s Governor, Andrew Cuomo gave his approval for the US Open to be staged without fans in attendance on Tuesday during his daily Coronavirus news conference in Albany.

The @usopen will be held in Queens, NY, without fans from August 31 to September 13.

The USTA will take extraordinary precautions to protect players and staff, including robust testing, additional cleaning, extra locker room space, and dedicated housing & transportation.

— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) June 16, 2020

“We’re excited about the U.S. Open, is going to be held in Queens, Aug. 31 through Sept. 13. It will be held without fans, but you can watch it on TV, and I’ll take that,” Cuomo said. “The tennis authorities are going to be taking extraordinary precautions, but that’s going to take place.”

The United States Tennis Association’s (USTA) Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director Mike Dowse issued the following statement:

We are incredibly excited that Governor Cuomo and New York State have today approved our plan to host the 2020 US Open and 2020 Western & Southern Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. We recognize the tremendous responsibility of hosting one of the first global sporting events in these challenging times, and we will do so in the safest manner possible, mitigating all potential risks. We now can give fans around the world the chance to watch tennis’ top athletes compete for a US Open title, and we can showcase tennis as the ideal social distancing sport. Being able to hold these events in 2020 is a boost for the City of New York and the entire tennis landscape. We will have more details and an official announcement tomorrow.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, tennis has been shut down since early March. The sport is currently suspended until July 31.

More details from the USTA about the plan to hold the Western & Southern Open at the National Tennis Center, followed by the US Open.