The French Henri Leconte, former number five in the world, has joined the criticism of his compatriots and believes that the US Open should be “canceled”. This is how the individual finalist in Roland Garros expressed himself in 1988 in an interview in Ouest-France, joining the sentiment expressed days ago by his compatriot Benoit Paire.
“The United States Open must be canceled,” says Leconte, winner of the Davis Cup in 1991. “I think many players are not going to go. Firstly for health reasons, the pandemic is far from over. The coronavirus epidemic continues to be very active in the United States and the country has registered more and more new cases for several days, “he points out about the planned edition from August 31 to September 13.
Leconte also believes that the lack of public in the stands, one of the circumstances that will occur in Flushing Meadows can slow players. “You can't play a Grand Slam tournament behind closed doors. I can't imagine the atmosphere it would create. We saw it with Patrick Mouratoglou's UTS (Ultimate Tennis Showdown), following a game from your screen doesn't have the same flavor”, ditch.