Naomi Osaka will play the US Open!

Naomi Osaka will be in New York to play both the Western & Southern Open and the US Open, tournaments this year both in Flushing Meadows, in New York. Initially it seemed that Osaka should have skipped both the Western & Southern Open and the US Open, but the Japanese player's team explained that the rumors about Naomi's absence in New York were completely unfounded.

Just a few hours before the No. 1 in the world Ashleigh Barty had made it known that he did not want to play the two tournaments in New York for fear of the health situation linked to COVID-19, which in the USA is becoming dramatic day after day

The last match played by Naomi Osaka was the Fed Cup match against Spain in early February. To play the Western & Southern Open the Japanese must request a wild-card since it was not present in the Entry List. Osaka won the 2018 US Open edition, her first Slam title of her young career.

Cincinnati Entry List: Serena on the court, out Barty, Halep and Svitolina

Exceptionally this year the Western and Southern Open, combined ATP / WTA, will not be in Cincinnati, but in New York, in order to centralize tournaments on the American hard-courts only in one place, after the global pandemic hit very seriously the USA .

As for women's singles, five of the top ten players in the world will be missing, including the WTA ranking No. 1 Ashleigh Barty and the No. 1. 2 Simona Halep. Out also Bianca Andreescu and Elina Svitolina: five stars in doubt also for the upcoming US Open. Barty had expressed his doubts as early as early June, while Halep had already chosen to play only in Europe. Andreescu didn't play a match from the Shenzhen WTA Finals last October when he had to retire due to a knee problem. 

The absence of Elina Svitolina is not a surprise: she said that she was worried about the situation of the infections not in New York, but in other States of the USA. Angelique Kerber seems not to have resolved her doubts about the trip to New York. There should be Serena Williams instead. Also present are Sofia Kenin, Karolina Pliskova, Kiki Bertens, Belinda Bencic, Petra Kvitova, Johanna Konta, Garbine Muguruza and Cori Gauff. These are the absences related to the Western and Southern Open: For now there is no news regarding the US Open, although it could be probable that the tennis players who will not play Cincinnati could also decide to skip the New York Slam.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2XeitNF