The withdrawal of the World No.5 and 7 make it three Top 10 players now out of the US Open on the women's side. The US Open women’s singles draw has lost a few big names.
World No.5 Elina Svitolina and World No.7 Kiki Bertens both announced their withdrawal on Friday, citing concerns related to travelling during the coronavirus pandemic.
“I still don’t feel comfortable to travel to US without putting myself and my team at high risk,” wrote Svitolina on social media.
— Elina Svitolina (@ElinaSvitolina) August 7, 2020
“After long consideration I have decided not to go to the states for Cincinnati and the US open,” wrote Bertens in an Instagram post. The situation around COVID-19 is still that worrying and the health of everyone and the control over this virus is priority."
Svitolina reached her first US Open semi-final last September, and will be able to keep those points in the rankings.
Bertens reached the third round at last year’s US Open, matching her best ever performance in New York.
In total, three Top 10 players are already out of the 2020 US Open. Svitolina and Bertens join Ash Barty, who announced her withdrawal last week. World No.30 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova also announced her withdrawal this week, citing similar concerns.
Missing the @usopen will come at a cost to @NastiaPav this year. She had not missed a main draw at a Slam since 2008. Watch her talk about this difficult decision 👇 🎥 https://t.co/iSUA68eUja
— Tennis Majors (@Tennis_Majors) August 7, 2020