Nick Kyrgios Pulls Out of 2020 US Open Due to Concerns over COVID-19
(August 1, 2020) Australia’s Nick Kyrgios has withdrawn from the 2020 US Open. The ATP’s 40th-ranked player made the announcement in a video on social media on Saturday:
Dear Tennis,
I will not be playing this year at the US Open.
It hurts me at my core…But I’m sitting out for the people, for my Aussies, for the hundreds of thousands of Americans who have lost their lives, for all of you. #SincerelyYours, @NickKyrgios pic.twitter.com/7EecHNU82l
— UNINTERRUPTED (@uninterrupted) August 1, 2020
“It hurts me at my core not to be out there competing in one of the sport’s greatest arenas, Arthur Ashe Stadium,” Kyrgios explained in the video post. “But I’m sitting out for the people, for my Aussies, for the hundreds and thousands of Americans that have lost their lives, for all of you. It’s my decision.”
The Aussie also criticized players playing exhibitions all over the world. “Dancing on tables, money grabbing your way around Europe, trying to make a quick buck hosting an exhibition.”
Kyrgios said that the sport of tennis and the economy “but we can never recover lives lost.”
