US Open: Novak Djokovic confirms participation

Novak Djokovic will play for his 18th Grand Slam title at the US Open from August 31. The Serb confirmed this on Instagram. “It was not an easy decision with all the obstacles and challenges from many sides,” wrote Djokovic. “But I’m really excited about the prospect of being able to compete again.” Djokovic had kept open until then to participate in the tournament, which was accompanied by numerous uncertainties.

Many of Djokovic’s colleagues do without the tournament in Flushing Meadows. Roger Federer does without a knee operation, other world-class players such as defending champion Rafael Nadal, Nick Kyrgios or Stan Wawrinka justified their cancellations with the risk of infection in the corona crisis. Among the women are missing the world number one Ashleigh Barty, Elina Switolina and Kiki Bertens.

Djokovic, on the other hand, announced that he would travel to New York earlier to take part in the Masters tournament. The Masters had been moved from Cincinnati to Flushing Meadows due to the corona situation in the USA.

Djokovic came under fire in June after numerous corona cases occurred during the Adria Tour, an invitation tournament organized by the Serbs. Among other things, the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov and Djokovic infected themselves with the virus. The participating players had not adhered to the hygiene rules and had parties, and the best German tennis professional Alexander Zverev was also involved.

Zverev will also compete at the US Open. This was confirmed by the management of the 23-year-old: “He has been registered for around three weeks and has been completely in preparation mode since then,” a statement said. At the beginning of the month, Zverev had considered rejecting it because the situation in New York with regard to the corona virus was “currently not particularly good”.