Tennis is finally back with the 2020 United States Open from Flushing Meadows, New York, which starts Monday. This past week, most of the best men’s and women’s tennis players on the planet competed in New York for the Western & Southern Open. The tournament normally takes place in Cincinnati. However, due to coronavirus, the event got moved to Flushing Meadows this year as players would not have to travel within the United States to play the second major of the season.
In the men’s event, Novak Djokovic of Serbia was victorious. In the final, he defeated Milos Raonic of Canada 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. This was Djokovic’s second Western & Southern Open title as he previously won the 2018 Cincinnati Masters by beating Roger Federer of Switzerland 6-4, 6-4.
Saturday’s win for Djokovic was also historic. Djokovic has now won 35 ATP Masters 1000 Series events, which ties him with Rafael Nadal of Spain for the most of all-time. One must realize that while Nadal has dominated the clay court events, Djokovic is the only player to have won all of the ATP Masters 1000 Series events. He has just not done it once. Djokovic has won each of the Masters 1000 Series events in men’s tennis now at least twice.
On the women’s side, Victoria Azarenka of Belarus won her 21st WTA Tour event. The two-time Australian Open champion, was victorious in the final when Naomi Osaka of Japan had to withdraw because of a hamstring injury. As a result, Osaka’s appearance at the U.S. Open is now in doubt.
Osaka, the fourth seed, is to face Misaki Doi of Japan in the first round of the U.S. Open. Osaka made headlines at the Western & Southern Open this past week when she announced she would withdraw from the tournament to protest racial injustice. Osaka, who is of mixed race (Japanese and Haitian), had just beaten Anett Kontaveit of Estonia in the quarterfinals. However, the tennis organizers decided to pause for a day and continued play, with the semifinals om Friday.
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