Where is the us open played
2020 US Open Will Be Played! | Press Conference
Oh
hello everyone
to this very special in his store
announcement I am Chris wittmeyer
managing director of communications for
the United States Tennis Association and
we're coming to you live from
Tennessee's grandest stage Arthur Ashe
Stadium here at the USTA Billie Jean
King National Tennis Center and today we
do have a very special announcement and
we are joined by USDA's immediate past
president Katrina Adams we will also be
hearing from you sta CEO and executive
director Mike douse we have with us the
chief executive of professional tennis
for the USTA and recently named US Open
tournament director Stacy Alistar and we
are joined by the NCAA's chief medical
officer dr. Brian Heinlein dr. Hanlon is
also a member of the USTA board and has
served on our USTA medical advisory
group and before we get started members
of the media please know that if you
will be joining us for the Q&A you need
to type your name and affiliation into
the chat queue so we could move this
along in an efficient manner when we
reach the Q&A portion also press
materials will be distributed
immediately following to the entire
distribution list and of course that
will include a transcript of today's
presentation so without further ado I'm
gonna turn it over to Katrina Adams
thank you good morning everyone I am
thrilled to be here today representing
the USTA Board of Directors in the USDA
president Patrick Galbraith to
officially make a long-awaited and
exciting announcement the 2020 US Open
will be played on its regularly
scheduled dates here at the USDA Billie
Jean King National Tennis Center right
here in New York City in this tough and
trying year that is not just good news
it's remarkable news what's more in
addition to hosting the US Open the NTC
will also this year host Cincinnati's
Western & Southern Open which were real
okay
here to be played the week prior to the
US Open this has been an unprecedented
year racked by the kovat 19 pandemic in
the racial injustice that has put a
global spotlight on the black lives
matters movement i'm particularly proud
to say that the USTA Billie Jean King
National Tennis Center became a center
of support during the pandemic serving
as a temporary centre of support for a
hospital for those that are affected and
I'm equally proud that the USTA not only
supports the black lives matter movement
but has long been at the forefront of
diversity and inclusion emphasizing
those important elements in all that we
do and of course holding the 2020 US
Open will be good for our sport at every
level of the game playing the open will
once again shine a spotlight on tennis
and get people excited about playing our
safe and healthy sport for themselves it
will also allow the USTA to generate
important income to invest in growing
the games grassroots in local
communities in all across the u.s. for
all those reasons we are thrilled that
the US Open in 2020 will be happening
that's fantastic news
thank you and thank you Katrina
it is fantastic news and I'm going to
turn it over to you sta CEO Mike dowse
Thank You Katrina and thank you Chris
today what I want to do is share with
you the journey we've been on since
March 11th when we learned that this
pandemic was a very big challenge to our
society into our sport of tennis so the
first thing we did in mid-march was
convene a team of many colleagues within
the USTA but also the broader tennis
community the ATP the WTA the ITF anyone
associated with the US Open and we said
we need to look at all the different
scenarios innovation is one of our
values and we wanted to be innovative
and look at all possible opportunities
to host this tournament having said that
we weren't
hosted at all costs we said we need
three guiding principles that we need to
check the boxes on to assure it is the
right decision to host the US Open the
first and most important decision can we
play the tournament safely is it in the
best interest of the health and
well-being of everyone involved that
includes players staff and our local
community here in New York City
the second guiding principle we set for
ourselves will this be in the best
interest of tennis is this great for
tennis and our third guiding principle
has been around this is does this make
financial sense both for the players and
for the USTA and I can say our team
looked at a dozen different options
keep on how do we best address these
three guiding principles and I can say
and I'm excited to say the combination
of the Western & Southern Open and the
US Open here in New York checked all
three of those boxes unequivocally we
have a great medical advisory group that
has supported us and consulted for us on
the medical side ultimately being signed
off yesterday by Governor Cuomo in the
state of New York our fans have
unequivocally told us they're excited to
see the most the best players in the
world and three financially we've
essentially been able to nearly match
last year's total compensation for these
tournaments and we're as Katrina also
mentioned we can also take funds now and
contribute it to our grassroots and
community tennis so with this panel
we'll get into a few more of the details
and first on our first guiding principle
around the health and well-being of all
I'm gonna hand it off to dr. Brian
Hanlon
well thank you so much Mike and it
really is a pleasure to be here with
such exciting news so we have been
experiencing this pandemic over 19 we
haven't seen the likes of this in over
100 years and so it's been remarkably
devastating to society across the world
and within America we've seen that
people of color have been
disproportionately negatively impacted
something that really awakens us to
social justice concerns and Katrina also
spoke about that but now we're in the
place of reopening society
we're reopening schools colleges
universities high schools and we're
reopening sport and so when we do that
we're able to do it in an evidence-based
manner we've learned so much about this
disease in the past few months and we
know how we can start doing things in a
manner that doesn't necessarily prevent
one person from getting koban 19 but
that can prevent and mitigate against
the risk of spread of this disease and
so why are we bringing back Sport and
tennis in particular well if you look at
tennis already we've known that compared
to all of the other sports it may be the
best sport for you from a health and
well-being point of view we have data
about that but then in the midst of
kovat tennis is an ideal sport for
physically distancing being able to play
the sport safely to socialize safely and
so then we come to the particulars of
the US Open so Mike talked about how
this is good for tennis well it's also
good for society because sport is an
essential aspect of who we are as human
beings sport does bring us health and
well-being and even to what sport it
brings us so much pleasure
so the particulars of bringing back
sport for the Western & Southern Open
and for the US Open we really
conceptualize that we have different
bubbles or we call them tiers and tier
one are the players and all of those who
have very very close contact with the
players and so they will stay in this
protected bubble upon arrival they will
all be tested and this is with the
polymerase chain reaction test and that
testing will be repeated at regular
intervals there are strategies in place
so what if someone does become positive
well because we are all physically
distancing at this wonderful event these
two events and a period of a few weeks
because we will be universally masking
when there is any possibility of
interacting with someone else that
already is the most important strategy
that we have to prevent this disease
from spreading to others
so the plan is really in place the
physical distancing plan is in place the
testing plan is in place and we are
confident that we can pull this off not
only in a manner that Astor's the safety
of everyone else but more importantly in
a manner that it really is going to be
an essential aspect of bringing back a
physical manifestation of hope for our
society we're opening up as a society
and we're ready to go through the
western and southern US Open and Western
and Southern and the US Open so thank
you and thank you very much dr. Hanlon
and now it's my great pleasure to turn
it over to our new US Open tournament
director Stacy Alistar thank you Chris
and dr. Halen just for a moment on
behalf of the entire US DEA team that I
represent today with its announcement
thank you for helping us get to this
point with your expertise your
leadership the hours you've put in into
this plan I don't know where you where
you find the time or where you sleep
because you have that little day job you
have
but we're most most appreciative and
with with your guidance and leadership
we're all confident that we will
implement this plan so in my first
official duty as the US Open tournament
director it is my greatest pleasure to
welcome a special guest to our first
virtual US Open press conference so this
announcement has been on my mind all day
but ultimately I really cannot wait to
return in New York and play the US Open
2020 I feel like the USTA is going to do
a really good job of ensuring like
everything is amazing and everything is
perfect and everyone is safe and it's
gonna be exciting
it's been over it's six months and a lot
of us apply professional tennis so it is
uh I'll certainly miss the fans don't
get me wrong just being out there and
that New York crowd and hear everyone
cheer like I really miss that and
getting me through some of those tough
matches but this is crazy
I mix
Thank You Serena what seemed crazy of
three or four months ago now has become
a reality
Syrena I can assure you that your fans
miss you but how exciting for all fans
to see you and your fellow competitors
here at the USDA Billie Jean King
National Tennis Center to play and
compete and the Western & Southern Open
and the US Open I'm going to take you
through a few of the details about how
all of this will work as Mike talked
about the first guiding principle has
been the mitigation of risk and the
health and wellbeing for all and
together with leadership of dr. halen
how we managed the spreading of the
virus we have to give a shout-out to
Governor Cuomo and everyone on his team
and here in the city and most
importantly to those first responders
across the state for their heroism to
help with the spreading of the virus
decreasing the chart that you see on
your screen is a value that is used is
called the RT value it is tracked daily
across each state and you can see that
New York State is the lowest fifth
lowest state in the country as of today
this gives us this confidence that New
York State is on the right track along
with New York City and here in Queens
total compensation for the two events
will be 60 million dollars the draw
sizes for the US Open will be men's and
women's 128 men's and women's 32 draws
this is a change specifically also if
the entry criteria will be a doubles
only ranking and within the 60 million
dollars of total compensation we have
allocated 6.6 million dollars 3.3 Peart
or to be able to use those funds at
their discretion they may use those
funds to compensate the athletes who
will not be joining us at this year's US
Open and or use the funds to subsidize
or stage ATP challengers WTA
international events the events with the
right ranking points also to impact to
affect and help the athletes who are
impacted by not being with us for the
qualifying and we are also going to be
part of that solution not just with
money where we will help both tours if
we're asked to stage events here in our
country as it relates to how it's going
to work from a timeline perspective the
official player hotels will open on
Saturday August 15th I think it's
important to know players can come
whenever they like we're just opening up
the business for them and that NTC will
be open on Sunday August 16th and yes
the airplanes are flying over us
New York is definitely open and back the
Western & Southern Open qualifying will
be held August 19th to 20th the main
draw for the Western and open main draw
will be August 21st and the 28th and the
main draw for the US Open will be in our
traditional dates as scheduled August
31st to September 13th
how will the Western & Southern Open
work we've worked with both tours to
design the the drawers and the field to
try mirror those that will play at the
US Open
56 men's and women's singles a 48
qualifying that is expanded from 32 to
48 and and expanded doubles from 28 to
32 doubles teams and the entry criteria
will be doubles
of ranking before I proceed I think it's
really important to just give a big
shout out and thanks to Western and
Southern to all of our partners in
Cincinnati for coming along on this
journey we couldn't have done it without
western and southern support
specifically john barrett who is
incredibly passionate about this
tournament and so we thank you john and
everyone for having the the faith in us
and the confidence to do this the other
thing i think it's important as you saw
in the dates this will mean that the
winston-salem open will sit off the
calendar in 2020 again thank you to the
leadership of Don Flo and everyone
involved with the winston-salem open to
give us this opportunity of what gives
the athletes an opportunity to come back
to train to have competitive matches
here at the USTA Billie Jean King
National Tennis Center if they want and
I've got to tell you months ago Don Flo
was one of the first people to call me
he said Stace what needs to happen the
US Open needs to happen and so if you
need us to step down we're there to
support you so thank you again to Don to
John Barrett and everyone involved to
official player hotels this is new for
us everything for the player housing
will be centralized and we have secured
one brand-new hotel the TWA located at
JFK one of the great things about this
hotel aside from its proximity is its
expansive layout and footprint it's
almost like it was built for physical
distancing and to give the athletes
their relaxing space medical services
fitness centers physio etc so the hotel
has been an important piece of this
puzzle as we have built the plan in
addition on site one of the benefits of
no fans not joining us on site
they're certainly going to be with us
with over 200 countries around around
the world will be we have world-class
facilities that we can now use and share
with them whether that's outdoor cafes
we'll be able to use these Suites
sitting here in Arthur Ashe Stadium as
lounge and a space for the athletes to
chill and prepare for their matches and
as well we will transform the south
plaza into a Sports Center we know our
international guests love football and
so whether it's football basketball golf
movie theaters gaming you name it we
will have an expansive experience for
the athletes been between their training
and their competition as dr. Hanlon
talked about a testing is an important
piece of the mitigation plan as players
arrive in New York they will come into
one of the two official hotels and
that's where the journey will begin as
it relates to testing and so they will
be tested directly at the hotel so as
Katrina said this is fantastic news for
tennis this is fantastic news at the
2020 Western & Southern Open tennis
toric moment here at the USTA Billie
Jean King National Tennis Center and on
behalf of the USTA and everyone that has
put their heart and soul into today's
announcement and I know they will now
the hard work comes we are officially
the US Open is open for business
thank you and there you have it folks
a very special day for us here at the
USTA again everyone we really appreciate
you joining us at this portion at this
at this point in time we're going to be
transitioning to the media QA for
everybody all members of the media this
is a new one for us as well
so I will be moderating this and trying
to keep it moving so we can get to as
many questions as possible and we know
there's a lot of questions in the queue
so bear with us and we're going to be
doing our best and we're ready for our
first question and that will be coming
from Jeff Williams of Newsday and you
hear me Chris yes we can Jeff okay well
- Stacy I believe how will the US open
field be filled and if is there a
deadline for players to admit to it and
what about the potential quarantine
issues to take things forward so Stacy
oh sorry sorry Jeff's Stacy did you hear
that properly how will the field be
filled and/or their quarantine issues is
the gist of it sure thank you Jeff so
the Western & Southern Open those entry
deadlines will be as per the tour rules
things are a little in flux but at the
moment we're looking at believe July
12th for the Western & Southern Open and
and athletes will make their own
decisions whether or not they want to
play that event we hope they do as it
relates to the US Open again normally
eligible by ranked the athletes are
automatically entered we will go through
a process where we'll work with both
tours to garner the interest of the
athletes we know we had a large number
of athletes who are training and and
want to play so sort of the final final
details of that are not nailed down but
will be in the in the coming weeks I
know on the quarantine that's been a big
topic of discussion together with
federal New York State local government
and the USGA medical advisory group
we've created this centralized US Open
world in western and southern open world
that in essence brings the athletes into
a safe environment
for them to train and return ultimately
to work we have the assurances of the
federal government on May 22nd the the
president signed a proclamation of
national interest with sport being part
of that proclamation that all athletes
their entourage is tour officials would
be able to come into our country to
participate I in the Western & Southern
Open and the US Open Thank You Stacey
we're ready for our second question and
we're gonna go to Zach Brazil ur of the
New York Post um so my is my question is
is there a concern of a lot of big names
passing out of this event there there
have been reports you know of Roger
Federer obviously isn't gonna play with
having surgery but you also have Joe
kovitch of the doll I mean how much of a
concern is that then you could be
without some star power again I'll
direct that to Stacy alistair concerns
on player field we we are going to have
incredible star power for the Western
rather than US Open and we know and we
respect that all athletes are going to
make need to make this decision on their
own there are a lot of questions in the
coming weeks we have 59 days until we
will open the tournament hotel there
will be ongoing conversations with
athletes to help them understand the
plan and then some ultimately will make
their own decision just as they always
do we are confident that we do have a
lot of players and interest who want to
compete and what we know for certain on
this glorious center court here in
Arthur Ashe Stadium we have seen some of
the most amazing matches and athletes
compete and we're confident that is what
they will share with their fans around
the world for the open and of course for
the West
Southern Open thank you we're gonna go
to the third question that will be from
Ben Rothenberg of the New York Times
expects the circuits how strictly the
sort of bubble is gonna be enforced if
players what happens if a player sneaks
out of the hotel to go clubbing what
happens if they try to you know invite
someone they met on a dating app over to
the hotel or something had strict of the
confines is this going to be and will
players have to sort of adhere by
different behavior rules in order to
stay eligible to be at the US Open I'm
gonna go to Stacey to start with this
but then dr. Hanlon I wonder if you
could just talk about this as well but
Stacey why don't you begin and then
we'll go to dr. Hanlon thanks Chris hey
Ben we've created this plan this
centralized plan so that our athletes
can come back and return to work I think
as we are all returning to work we all
have a responsibility to ourselves to
our families to our fellow coworkers I
have a lot of confidence in in these
professional athletes together with the
tours we will be working with them to be
comfortable we want them to stay in the
hotels and then also come here to the
USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis
Center and it'll be on all of us to do
our part
to be able to stage this event in the
safest and healthiest way and again I'm
very confident that the athletes who do
decide to join us will share in that
responsibility and dr. Hale I do you
have any thoughts on this right so I
won't answer the part of the question
about enforcement because I'm not on the
enforcement side but if you think about
it we really designed this tournament
around a bubble and if someone becomes
infected so that's a possibility if they
go out and and and and they put
themselves in a situation where their
behavior is risky if they become
infected
they're really taking on
responsibilities of saying well you know
what I'm doing is not that important to
my fellow players but if they do become
infected the way the inner bubble is
they will not be physically in contact
with any of the other players everything
is set up we're going to be doing the
regular testing so even if someone does
test positive during the tournament
we're confident that that disease won't
spread to the other players because of
how everything has been worked out and
modeled thank you very much doctor we
are now going to go to Cindy Smurl ur of
the international New York Times hi
everybody and especially Stacey I have
two quick questions one will wildcards
be awarded and secondly along the lines
what Ben was asking there was some
discussion about players being allowed
to stay nearby at a private home and if
that's the case or their entourage is
allowed to be with them and is that a
concern of yours did you hear that
properly Stacey I did Thank You Cindy
let me take your first question around
wildcards for the US Open there will be
120 direct in and there will be 8 wild
cards for the doubles would continue to
work with both tours on just finalizing
the number of wildcards we anticipate it
will be three or four for the doubles
and the Western & Southern Open will be
per its usual allocation of wildcards as
it relates to private homes
we will provide options to the athletes
the athletes are what we used to as we
know staying in private homes that
Wimbledon or other tournaments around
the world so if they want to invest in a
private home we have a realtor who will
be available to them these will be
residential homes and non dense
locations outside of Manhattan and yes
that then would be an option within
their own home their own bubble group
for them to bring
their entourage is and family members
and when they come in then to the u.s.
open world they will be tested along
with those entourage members who will be
coming on-site to support them whether
it be coach physio they too will go
through the same testing as all players
Thank You Stacey
next question Howard federic The
Associated Press Stacy
you just mentioned entourage members as
a decision been made on the number of
people that a player will be allowed to
bring on-site either for practice or
matches or any other purpose and
separately wondering what the setup will
be in terms of line calling will it be
just the chair umpire with electronic
help will you have a full normal set of
line judges etc thank you thank you hey
Howard nice I've got a Christmas tree
yeah go ahead Stacy sorry oh go ahead
thanks Howard our first first one
entourage is let me say right now is
part of the plan each athlete will be
provided two hotel rooms one which we
will pay for one they will each athlete
will be permitted within those two hotel
rooms to bring up to three additional
guests at their choice we're gonna work
with the athletes with the tours on how
many on-site timing there will be a very
comprehensive physical distancing
movement plan and again we we understand
the needs of the athletes we just need
to make sure that we navigate the
physical distancing and ensure that we
keep everyone spread out and also
everyone gets the proper training and
preparation that they need for the two
events as it relates to line calling a
really tough decision for us to make has
been that we will not have a full
complement of officials we will on
Arthur Ashe Stadium and Louis Armstrong
Stadium have lines persons all other
courts we will use technology with
Hawkeye live that will be another first
for the US Open
of course chair umpires on all courts
and as it relates to ball persons we
will have crews on here on the Arthur
Ashe Stadium and Louie there will be a
total of six ball persons two on each
end
two on opposite sides of the nets
physically distance and then on the
outer courts there will be three one on
each end and one at the net to help with
the retrieving and the rolling of balls
to the athletes Thank You Stacy we're
now going to go to Simon caber chambers
the co-chair of the international tenors
tennis writers hi everybody I'm Stacy a
quick question just about how you're
gonna look after the needs of the
requirements of the media the US Open
it's obviously very difficult but what
what do you have in mind actually Simon
I'm gonna take that here at this present
time as you heard we will have no
spectators on-site a cornerstone of this
plan is to limit the total number of
individuals on the site at any one one
time because of that we are planning to
not have media on-site this year at the
2020 US Open but we will be putting
together a plan we do want to speak with
you Simon in Isabella and others to put
together a comprehensive media plan that
works for everybody and brings the US
Open around the world in ways we haven't
done it before as you can see we're
hosting our first virtual interactive
Q&A right now it's going pretty smooth
but there's more two more to follow on
that
next question Pat we're going to
Stephanie Myles
Stephanie I guess I guess the questions
for Stacey first of all congratulations
on the new gig it's a bit of a baptism
of fire I was wondering if the players
will be required to sign an insurance
waiver of some sort absolving the
tournament of responsibilities if there
is a positive test which let's be honest
is you know a fairly likely thing and
and you know further to that if someone
does test positive and then they must
isolate in our hotel room so let's say a
number of weeks or one of their team
members does who's responsible to assume
the cost of stacey would that do you
want to start there
very good I can kick it off and doctor
and I joined at any time messy
Stephanie and Bienvenu
this first remya a virtual press
conference the entire plan is set up to
mitigate risk but as dr. Halen has said
it is possible that someone may test
positive so we have all of the medical
doctors with under the leadership of our
chief medical officer dr. Alexis Colvin
of Mount Sinai dr. Brian Daniels
director player services so they will be
looking after the athletes along with
with many other medical professionals to
help us if an athlete is tested positive
we have designed and set up an area
where they will be isolated our medical
professionals will care for them they
will make the determination as to
whether what type of treatment they
require if that is a treatment in the
hotel or an alternative location that we
we determine if they need to be
hospitalized we will have the hospitals
set up for them to be treated and I
think we we all go into this
understanding the risk in our
responsibility
and as in every year the health and
well-being of our athletes their safety
their health is paramount to our medical
team and it will be unrated unwavering
during this this is this event any
further comments on that doctor well two
observations one is there there has been
a lot of talk of waivers in different
situations sometimes universities saying
they want a waiver sign sometimes state
saying that they want to provide waivers
to universities at the board level at
the USTA that has not been discussed and
it really doesn't make a lot of sense to
have players sign that because look
they're at risk of developing kovat from
many different scenarios and it's highly
unlikely that it's going to happen at
the US Open if someone does test
positive the other thing that's very
important is that we will be working
hand-in-hand with the local health
department their contact tracers and so
this is not just a US Open medical
decision this is also the public health
decision in terms of the necessities of
quarantine and and the US Open and the
Western & Southern Open we will make
certain that the quarantine procedures
are followed as per protocol and that
really is a local health decision in
conjunction with the medical team thank
you doctor
we're now going to go to Paul Newman of
the independent Stacey I could ask you
about some entry deadlines I know you
said that not everything I've been
decides on this but will it be your
intention to remain fairly flexible on
this because it's clearly a changing
situation around the world levels of
infection will be changing and players
might want to make and very late
decisions as to whether they play or not
yes yes Stacy that's for you thank you
hey Paul without question this is a
journey and things are evolving so we
have the plan today we're in daily
contact with both tours so for the
Western & Southern Open I did use the
date of July of the 11th as an entry
deadline but we collectively recognized
that that made it may adjust and we'll
take some direction from the tours as it
relates to the Western & Southern Open
for the US Open we know going into this
mm that athletes are will most likely
decide two to three weeks before we'll
be ready we are ready the plan is ready
if the athletes are ready we'll be ready
for them to come to New York to train
and compete in both events hopefully but
one one or the other
so everything definitely is flexible and
again we're grateful to the tours even
for their for their support and feedback
for us to be able to to stage this
centralized plan and bring our sport
back to our fans around the world Thank
You Stacey we are now going to go to
Arthur CAPA Tanaka's Arthur everybody my
question is for Mike douse Mike in
addition to working hard on the US Open
and hosting it as safely as possible I
know that you and the USTA have been
working very hard on the the relief for
cover rebuild efforts to try to make
sure the sport of tennis is healthy
coming out of this pandemic so my
question is how will the financials of
hosting the US Open and the Western &
Southern Open impact those efforts at
the grass root level Mike hi Arthur
great question so how do the financials
of the US Open affect our grassroots
effort and as you mentioned we embarked
embarked on something called relief
recover and rebuild tennis coming out of
the pandemic and if you go back to our
guiding principles on the US Open our
third one doesn't make financial sense
and again our definition of financial
sense was can we be competitive
with total compensation for the players
versus prior year and yes we did that
but the other part of doesn't make
financial sense can we continue to
commit to grassroots tennis which is
ultimately the mission of our governing
body to promote and grow the sport of
tennis and again the answer is yes you
know by hosting the US Open this year
with no fans on site we're able to
commit to 91 percent of our grassroots
funding for 2021 and nearly a hundred
percent of our grassroots funding for
2020 so yes this US Open having it and
the Western to Southern plays a big part
in our ability to continue to fund our
mission
so thanks for the question a very good
one thank you Mike we're now going to go
to Stuart Fraser
of the times
we're giving ok gotcha yeah I did
afternoon press sorry about the mic
finishes there just to us Stacy a
question obviously players recently were
under the impression that the only one
gas was allowed but you're saying today
that up to three are allowed Stacy how
can you justify you know not running
qualifying because you have to limit
numbers when you're now offering the
amount of player gas one two three Stacy
hey Stuart so we when we look at the
overall picture again it starts with it
starts with with hotels the number of
rooms that we have within the two
centralized player hotels TWA has 512
rooms main draw went men's and women's
singles that's 256 that's 512 ironically
enough the medical advisors have said
they are comfortable with the two rooms
that exposure group sharing so that
piece of the puzzle it works as it
relates to medical and the physical
facilities of hotel rooms as it relates
to on-site this is evolving and we
started putting out this plan three four
weeks ago obviously there's been
significant discussion with the athletes
on plus one plus two etc they can Medora
to the athletes understand that we have
to limit when we look at Stuart the
overall of qualifying mixed juniors
wheelchair Championships we had to make
the really difficult decision that that
extra load of the number of bodies that
is in the multiples was outside
something that we felt we could handle
handle ultimately to mitigate the risk
and the health and wellbeing for all so
this has definitely been challenging and
difficult but as I said in my opening
remarks we recognize the impact
this has on the qualifying athletes and
together with the tours provided each
tour with 3.3 million dollars of
compensation and the ability to fund and
stage replacement jobs for those
athletes for the important ranking point
and will be part of that journey
if the tours need is to support and
stage those events Thank You Stacy we
will now go to Sandy Harwood
congratulations Stacy on you new
position I have two quick questions
firstly I know a number of people who
have stayed at the TWA hotel and I was
wondering if you've had discussions with
them about a few changes of their policy
because I know they don't have room
service which is a player ideal
situation nor like twenty
four-hour-a-day
food availability so I was wondering
what kind of discussions you had for
them to change how they work things and
my other question is well we all hope
nobody ends up getting covered is there
a threshold where if a certain number of
people there did end up having it that
you'd have to shut down the tournament
valid Thank You Stacy we'll go to you
with that thank you okay
hey Cindy sorry hey sandy thank you I'll
take the first question and then I'll
ask dr. hey line on the second one
TWA you know really like this is this is
go day you followed the media are we
going we're not going we're comfortable
today to say
TWA is our hotel TWA will be our hotel
our US Open and Western & Southern Open
Hotel and we will work with them they
are excited to be able to host our
player guests and and their guests for
certain sandy we know the athletes need
fuel and they need food so whether that
is of the required services at the hotel
or here on site breakfast lunch and
dinner we will have the appropriate food
service and we'll even have our own
takeaway where athletes will be able to
take their sushi and protein shakes and
pasta
back to the hotel if they want but we
will have food service at the TWA hotel
and our other player hotel dr. hayoon do
you want to take the next question right
so one of the advantages when the
players come in early they're tested
right away and so that already mitigates
a substantial amount of risk that
there's going to be spread within the
tournament in terms of when you make a
decision are you going to shut down an
event are you going to shut down a
school are you going to shut down a
workplace it's not based on an absolute
number but there's a modeling that we do
and it's always done in conjunction
again with the local health department
if you have a sense that really there is
a contagion within your microcosm of
society well then yes that would lead to
a shutdown and so it's not an absolute
number it's really a sense that you
either have control and you can prevent
disease spread or you can't and those
decisions that are always made by the
local health department's that's not a
US Open medical decision alone thank you
doctor we will now go to your Baldo
scatter gotta good evening to everyone
well so I'd like to know if how how many
times the players will be averagely
tested during a tournament during the US
Open every other day once every four
days never
only when they asked I mean how does it
how does it go and well I have seen in
the recent days that many players with
didn't have that much responsibility the
one that you are asking to them
cmedancing going to parties and
everything else
how will you check that especially if
you will give to someone the permit to
stay in a private house and go out and
others to stay in the TWA hotel
TWA once was called the tribe walking
across
now well thank you for that Ubaldo I did
not know that however I'm going to ask
dr. Hanlon to comment on the testing
protocol and we'll go from there all
right so the minimum that everyone will
be tested is upon arrival and once
weekly thereafter you raise a very
important point and it was it was raised
before I mean really the players are
coming in there they're making a pledge
to help get this right but there's going
to be a possibility that either a player
makes a choice and and puts himself or
herself at risk and therefore others and
so anytime that happens there's testing
paradigm changes and that's based on the
knowledge of that we have of the virus
because after an infection the setting
can begin in one or two days so they
would then be tested on a very regular
basis it would certainly include in
those first two days and then it would
have to include days five day seven and
and and the final details of that are
still being worked out but for the most
part it would be at least once weekly
any possibility that the bubble is
broken it goes to a very regular
engagement with testing that would it be
at moat and all likelihood in every
other day event I hope that answered
your question you've although we are now
going to move on to Colette Lewis hi can
you hear me am i unmuted no yes we can
hear you fine : thank you all right
thank you I was wondering if there is
our still plan since the 18th Nationals
our goal for this year to give them one
of the eight wildcards Stacey Alistair
hey Collette
absolutely we are pretty very excited
that Kalamazoo and San Diego are trying
for our boys and girls under 18 and
those champions will be part of the 2020
US Open Thank You Stacey
I believe the next question is going to
come from Liz Clark of the Washington
Post if not oh she's my apologies we
will be getting Liz Clark from The
Washington Post
yes can you hear me sorry yes we can
thank you so my question is about
testing so I assume it's for dr. Haman
and it it's basically about the
reliability of the tests my
understanding is there are incidents of
false positives false negatives so have
you broached the topic of what you'll do
if a player test positive will there be
a retest or something analogous to a bee
sample in in you know
performance-enhancing drug testing is
because it's being discussed as the test
or a definitive declarative boom it
settles everything but there seems to be
some question about the accuracy just
before we turn it to dr. Haines line
it's dr. Brian Haines line h AI n li n e
dr yeah so a great question so we will
be using the polymerase chain reaction
test so that really is a it looks at the
amplification of the nucleic acid
profile of the virus and that's going to
be done by way of a nasal pharyngeal
swab and there's a special arrangement
for that and that test really approaches
100 percent specificity meaning there
won't be false positives and it really
approaches 100 percent sensitivity we
will not be using the point-of-care
tests for example the antigen tests or
even the point-of-care PCR tests because
their sensitivity is less it's only at
about 80 percent so there could be false
negatives and you are right if someone
does test positive they would have a
repeat test within 24 hours and that
would be a confirmatory test thank you
doctor
we will now go to Richard pagli arrow
Tennis now I just had two quick
questions first if there was a coated
case in the later rounds quarters of
semies how would the tournament handle
it would you have like a late round
lucky loser and then secondly if the
tournament were next week about how many
of the top 20 do you think would be
playing and what would be success huh as
far as a percentage of the top 20 men
and women playing from your perspective
I'm going to turn this to Stacey
Alistair hey Richard on your on your
first question as it relates to if we're
in the middle of competition and an
athlete does test positive again under
the direction of the US Open medical
team as dr. Halen has said local
authorities and the tour's we will
discuss with the tours what is the next
step it's so difficult to say today what
that's going to be because it really
will be dependent on on the athlete and
the direction that the medical team
provides we do have in the grand slam
rule books if an athlete is not eligible
to compete for health reasons the chief
medical officer would make that
determination it rarely happens
athletes are independent contractors
that make their own decisions but this
is one of those unique situations where
if the doctors determined that the
athlete needs to come out of the
competition that will happen and we have
the systems in place for them
if the tournament was next week I'm not
going to speculate what I am comfortable
saying Richard is that I really believe
right now that we have announced the
Western & Southern Open the US Open I
believe the ATP and the WTA have
released their calendars athletes have
been training and now they're really
going to be training to return to play
and as this whole situation with the
virus evolves here in New York City
around the world athletes make that
final determination two to three weeks
before I am confident overall that a lot
of athletes want to return to play these
are the best athletes in the world maybe
I'm a little biased but they can perform
and they're healthy and it's going to be
great exciting tennis for our fans
around the world Thank You Stacey
we are now gonna go to rich near Tennis
Club business no I have not
so apologies
we're gonna go to the Guardian to Monte
Carol one moment
and your public critical opinion from
top players in recent weeks and
Americans like as people said being
eight players being able to rent houses
seem less restrictive than some of those
initial suggestions and they may be some
players how much have those opinions
affected your decisions and will they
come with more ease so I'm gonna go to
Stacey to talk about the collaborative
process we've had with the tours and the
players as we built this plan okay Thank
You Monty for your question
definitely maybe three to four weeks ago
when we started the discussion around
private homes with the USDA Medical
Advisory Group we had a full discussion
around that and we came to the decision
that the athletes themselves do not want
to get covin 19 and if they feel more
comfortable in a private home setting
with their families or the the support
team that they need that they could then
make that choice for themselves what we
have done is given them that option
there will be protocols and measures
that they will need to follow again
there's a leap of faith here but it's
it's not one hard to put up not a
difficult one to make because they don't
want to get covert and then I think what
is important the athletes have the
option come into the official player
hotels where they have everything they
need and come and then train and compete
here at the USDA Billie Jean King
National Tennis Center or elect the the
private home and as we said earlier if
they choose the private home option they
won't get back into our US Open world
until they've been tested and until the
doctors say they're clear so again this
is a journey everyone to take
responsibility for themselves
and for their for their fellow athletes
and for all of the staff who are going
to be working to ensure their health and
well-being and that we can in fact stage
both these events
thank you very much Stacy at this point
we have time for two more questions
we're going to go to ream a belay I had
a question regarding the Tua's award in
ranking pool wins at the US Open is that
a final decision or is that something
that might be you be visited if
something changes if there's a large
number of withdrawals etc is that a
final decisions they have a guarantee
that there will be ranking points or
from now until the US Open will
something change about something Thank
You Stacy thank you under each tour
under there they're called the ATP Grand
Slam ranking agreement and WTA ranking
great Grand Slam ranking agreement those
ranking agreements are with all four
Grand Slams and we've had those
discussions with the tours with the 60
million dollars of compensation being
provided that those agreements need to
stay in place and so that's where we are
today and again we're super excited the
athletes that want to compete have that
ability and I know that both tours as
their tours return to play with
different events around the world some
coming on this journey waiting for
government approvals in their countries
and some that have decided to sit off
the calendar that is a large body of
work that both tours are currently
undertaking Thank You Stacy evidently I
did not major in math because now we
have two more questions and we're going
to be going to Barbara Barker of Newsday
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when you guys but when you got a
commitment from Sarina and how
is that to have a player of her stature
commit to coming and doing this
considering everything she's done at the
US Open I'm gonna we're gonna start with
Stacy but I'd like Mike to comment on
that as well
Stacy hey Barbara we we have to a number
of player agents or directly to players
we've we've made ourselves available to
the athletes to be able to build this
plan we need their input though I can
confirm that through Serena's agent
I had a zoom call with her probably
three to four weeks ago and she said on
the on the on the video Wow Stace is
crazy
you know it's just you know she shook
her head there's so much for me to
comprehend so together there's been
ongoing education I can confirm that the
surface provided by Lake hold for the
2020 the US Oakland and Western &
Southern Open was shipped to Serena's
house she's got a new court in her
backyard and so she has been training so
again she's training she will be playing
and she's excited to come back and like
all athletes they'll make their decision
at a time that makes sense for them and
Mike I'm wondering if you could just
share your thoughts as well yeah Barbara
thanks for the question regarding Serena
and it's clear we're extremely excited
and preciate of that she's committed
this early to play the tournament as we
all know she transcends tennis and she
is so much bigger than our sport and and
as we talked about is this in the best
interest of tennis it's also is it and
dr. Haines line spoke to it this is good
for society it shows that our country is
opening up again we're getting back to a
somewhat level of normalcy and Serena is
the best ambassador for that and we
couldn't be happier that she's part of
it as she pursues her journey for
additional Grand Slams so again
extremely excited that Serena's going to
be part of our US Open tournament thank
you Mike and now for our final question
Michelle Castillo cheddar hi thanks all
for taking my question today last year
the US
made approximately 370 million is there
any estimate on how much you guys are
going to lose in revenue due to the lack
of fans in the stands and on top of that
have all sponsors all major sponsors
committed to the 2020 US Open Thank You
Michelle we're gonna go to Mike and this
will be our final response and then I'll
give some closing comments hi Michelle
thanks for the question on the
financials I'll start with the sponsors
I'm very appreciative of our sponsors
they've been great partners through this
we've actually had weekly town halls
with them as we've gone through this
journey and so they're fully committed
to supporting our efforts here as far as
the financials I will tell you our net
operating income looks to be down
approximately 80 percent this year so
that really talks about our commitment
to the sport of tennis and the
professional players because as I
mentioned earlier we're committed to 91
percent of the prize money or our net
operating income is going to be down 80
percent so you know fortunately we've
had the financial wherewithal over the
years with the reserves that we can do
this for a one-off year it's not a model
that can continue but again I always go
back to our guiding principles you know
is safe for the trick players to play
and everyone involved yes is it in the
best interest of tennis and that was key
yes and then financially doesn't make
sense and through our strong balance
sheet we've been able to support it this
year and cover that significant gap
we're gonna have an overall revenue and
net operating income but it's the right
decision to make for tennis and again
we're looking forward to it thank you
and thank you very much Mike
so everyone thank you so much for
joining us we couldn't be more pleased
to be sharing this fantastic news with
everybody as I said at the beginning we
will be doing a media distribution very
shortly after this I do want to thank
everybody here especially Katrina Adams
for pinch-hitting for chairman of the
board and president Patrick Galbraith
thank you Mike I didn't think this would
be your first type of press conference
here and Arthur Ashe Stadium but here it
is
Stacey congratulations has everybody
said on your new tournament director
title and of course dr. Hanlon
really appreciate your insights and
thoughts around the tournament so as
Stacey said earlier everybody the US
Open is open
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