The tornado that hit the New York area on Wednesday night has had consequences beyond the postponement at the US Open of the match played by Kevin Anderson and Diego Schwartazman at the Louis Armstrong and that finally ended in the Arthur Ashe, which caused the suspension of the duel that Angelique Kerber and Anhelina Kalinina were going to offer on the first track, and that will be played this Thursday … Although the day of the American Grand Slam did not start at the scheduled time, it did so around 12:00 local time, an hour late. The USTA, organizer of the tournament announced in a statement that it was “evaluating the availability of the venue.” and that it would report on “the opening of doors and the beginning of the matches”, but that the “current plan does not contemplate” a start before 11:00 local time.
Torrential rain that seeped down the uncovered parts of the Louis Armstrong and caused flooding in some of the facilities, caused havoc that the US Open employees are now trying to solve to make both the game and the presence of spectators viable. Due to the storm, train, bus and subway services were suspended, and car traffic was very difficult.
In fact, it affected some tennis players whose games were played at night, such as the American Sloane Stephens, who after beating her compatriot Coco Gauff was stuck in a car for more than two hours and had to buy a pizza on the way to her hotel in Manhattan, an area badly affected by the floods. So far there have been nine deaths from the storm. The USTA considered canceled the entire day of Wednesday night at the Louis Armstrong and will return the price of tickets.