As Chinese Taipei star Hsieh Shu-wei , ranked 56th in the world, announced her withdrawal from the US Open on August 17, and China's former US Open youth champion Wang Xiyu, who had previously signed up for the US Open, has chosen to withdraw, China The only person in the tennis world who still insists on signing up for the US Open season is the former sister Zhang Shuai. Since the epidemic situation in the United States has not yet improved, Zhang Shuai's fans and fans also left messages of blessing on her social software. On the other hand, by taking the risk to compete during the epidemic, Zhang Shuai may be able to gain a different Grand Slam trip. The event will be held in New York from August 31st to September 13th.
The epidemic has seriously impacted the lives of players.
As the first tennis player to fly solo, Zhang Shuai still insisted on playing in various events in the early stages of the epidemic. Zhang Shuai feels the impact of the epidemic the most.
In March this year, the epidemic began to spread around the world. Zhang Shuai, who was preparing for the hard court season in the United States at the time, embarked on a long journey home after learning the news of the cancellation of the event. Compared with other returning players, Zhang Shuai's journey home was more tortuous. After she returned to Beijing on March 17, she was arranged to be quarantined in Qinhuangdao for observation. However, when the 14-day quarantine period was about to end, it was discovered that there were asymptomatic infections among the people quarantined at the same time. Zhang Shuai had no choice but to accept another 14-day quarantine period. .
After a full month of hard work, Zhang Shuai returned to his hometown of Tianjin. After staying at home with his family for a few days, Zhang Shuai began closed training with the national team at the Tianjin Tennis Center. Perhaps it was because he had been away from the professional arena for many days, but after the US Open Grand Slam announced that it would start as scheduled, Zhang Shuai signed up early to compete.
A few days ago, Zhang Shuai updated her personal social media and posted pictures of herself cutting her hair short again. She also showed off her new racket. It seems that Zhang Shuai will challenge the US Open with a new racket and new hairstyle. Grand slam.
is expected to gain seeds by participating.
Unlike Zhang Shuai, most Chinese tennis players have chosen to withdraw from the US Open, including Wang Qiang , who is currently ranked first in China's women's singles, as well as Zheng Saisai , Zhu Lin , Wang Yafan , Peng Shuai and other players have announced that they will give up the US Open competition.
At present, from the world's number one women's singles Barty to the defending US Open champion Andreescu, Svitolina, Bertens, plus Bencic, high-ranking players have expressed their abandonment of the US Open. On the other hand, their withdrawal also gives lower-ranked players more opportunities. In particular, Zhang Shuai is currently ranked 36th. He originally missed the seeding seat, but is now expected to be ranked as the 27th seed based on the order of substitutes.
In Zhang Shuai's early career, she often had to play qualifying rounds to get into the main draw. But if he enters the seed list, Zhang Shuai can avoid those seed players in the first few rounds, which means he is more sure of advancing.
The men's singles situation at the US Open is similar. Due to the successive withdrawals of men's players, many players who were not scheduled to enter the main draw have become eligible to participate in the Grand Slam. Currently, Zhang Zhizhen, the top brother of China's men's tennis team and ranked 140th in the world, is ranked 13th on the substitute list released by the US Open official website. If more players withdraw from the competition, Zhang Zhizhen is also expected to be nominated as a substitute for the men's singles official list. race.
Taking the risk of participating in the competition is costly.
In addition to Zhang Shuai, many world tennis stars are currently rushing from all corners to New York, the host city of the US Open. Looking at the selfies posted by players on the plane, everything from masks to goggles are covered up. Players are indeed wary of using public transportation to travel to New York to play games.
In recent days, including former Grand Slam champion Murray , last year's US Open runner-up Medvedev, and famous player Kevin Anderson , have all embarked on transportation to New York. Not only did the players wear masks in compliance with airline requirements, many also wore transparent face shields and even goggles to prevent possible virus exposure.
Since a large number of international players need to travel long distances to enter the United States to compete, the movement of players and contact with the outside world during this period have increased their risk of infection. Even after entering the United States, the players did not dare to relax. After all, the epidemic situation in the United States has not yet receded. New York, where the game is played, and Florida, where many players train, are still the hardest-hit areas by the epidemic.On the 17th, Japanese player Kei Nishikori also confirmed that he was infected at the closed IMG Tennis Academy.
As New York will face the test of the Cincinnati Open and the US Open in the next more than three weeks, it will need to receive nearly 500 singles and doubles players, plus double the number of accompanying coaches and support teams, to prevent the epidemic. The pressure can be imagined.
What makes athletes even more nervous is that the scientific community has not yet produced concrete evidence to show what impact the new coronavirus will have on the human body. For example, Djokovic, who was infected with the new crown, said that he had almost no symptoms. However, Dimitrov , who was infected in the same event as him, said that it took him a month to fully recover. Until now, he still feels tired easily, which caused him great trouble. "There are Sometimes I feel good and can train for four hours, but sometimes I have to stop completely and need to rest and slow down. "From this point of view, traveling to the United States to compete from a country where the epidemic is better controlled is not a problem. Zhang Shuai is indeed a bit adventurous. I wish her a safe journey and a safe Grand Slam journey.
Text/our reporter Chu Peng Photo courtesy/Visual China
