Ukraine’s highest ranked player has said she is currently planning to start her return to professional tennis on the European clay and may skip the North American swing.
Elina Svitoliva has said her current intention is to return to action at the Madrid Open, which will get underway on September 12th. Although this could change in the coming weeks. The announcement comes amid concerns from players over travelling to the US Open due to the COVID-19 pandemic. CNN has reported that the country has broken its record for the number of daily cases nine times within a month. Although New York, which is where the US Open is held, has seen a dip in cases.
Besides the cases, there are also questions over if quarantine rules between Europe and America will be applied to players or not. Due to professional tennis being halted by the pandemic for four months, the WTA and ATP calendars have been revised with more big tournaments taking place within a short time of each other. Just three weeks separates the US Open from the French Open, which has been moved from its usual slot in June.
“Considering how things are today, I think I will start in Madrid and will not play at the US Open,” Ukrainian Tennis portal btu.org.ua quoted Svitolina as saying. “So this is what I think at the moment, but so it is not a 100% final decision.”
In Svitolina’s case she has a saving grace thanks to changes to the WTA ranking points system. As a result of the Tour break, the governing body has decided to implement a “Better of 2019 and 2020” point model. Under the new changes, a player’s ranking will be determined by her best 16 results between March 2019 and December 2020 instead of the usual 52-week period.
Under the changes, world No.5 Svitolina will not lose her points from the 2019 US Open where she reached the semi-finals if she doesn’t play this year. She can only gain points if she progresses to the final of the tournament. Something she herself admits is unlikely.
“My motivation to go to the USA would be to protect my points. If the WTA said that the points will be removed, then I would like to go and perform so as not to lose my position in the rankings,” she said.
“We are in a difficult situation (due to the pause), so you would not want to worsen your position in the rankings. There is another factor – this is health, which, of course, is also important.”
“A year ago I reached the semifinals (of the US Open) and it is rather difficult to repeat such a result or surpass it.”
Svitolina is currently in Berlin playing in the Bett1 Aces exhibition. Earlier in the week she won the first leg of the tournament by fighting back from a set down to defeat Petra Kvitova 3-6, 6-1, 10-5. However, in her latest match, she was crushed 6-1, 6-1, by Anastasija Sevastova.
“We still do not know what will happen next, every week the situation changes. We see what is happening in China with sports competitions . Although the WTA says that there is still no final decision (regarding the cancellation of tennis tournaments), this also needs to be taken into account. I think the associations are doing everything in their power.” She concluded.
