Serena has said that she is playing the 2020 US Open. I wasn’t sure to start with but the fact she has had the new laykold surface (used by the US Open), laid at her home for practice suggests she has every intention of playing. I have also seen Bianca Andreescu has said she will play and Naomi Osaka also hopes to. That will be welcome news to tournament organisers after Halep looks to be skipping it and Ash Barty has plenty of reservations. I think the Djokovic and Nadal decision will be interesting, personally, I think Novak will play and Nadal will give it a miss and play Paris. Pure speculation though. Dan Evans, Andy Murray and Jo Konta all seem very keen to play too from the Brits. Providing everything is safe, I will be delighted to see this go ahead. I can understand both sides of the coin here though. From my last few blogs, you will know that I wouldn’t travel as a fan this year as I have the previous three.

Srdjan Djokovic has had a swipe at Roger Federer. He has basically said that Federer’s ego is keeping him playing and that both Nadal and Djokovic will overtake him in slams. I don’t think too many would disagree with that, apart from Federer fans. Oh, and he said Federer should look after his kids instead of playing and that he brings a lot of animosity towards Novak. In fairness, I do think that Federer can be a little underhanded in his approach with Djokovic. Nadal has been to a lesser extent too. I agree in principle with a few things that have been said here but some are probably a little harsh and two wrongs don’t make a right etc. This is worth a blog in its own right.

Finally, I am clearly looking forward to the Schroders Battle of the Brits event. The Tim Henman Group consists of Andy Murray, Kyle Edmund, Liam Broady and James Ward and the Greg Rusedski group has the British Number One Dan Evans, Cameron Norrie, Jay Clarke and Jack Draper. There has been a lot of banter here judging by the videos that Jamie Murray has been presenting on Twitter. The WhatsApp group they have sounds class too! It comes as a welcome bit of live tennis for us and is on Amazon Prime in the UK and can also be seen on the Tennis Channel.

Just as I am about ot release this, I see that Grigor Dimitrov has tested positive for the coronavirus after playing in Djokovic’s event in Adria. This will only add further fuel to the debate on the restart with travelling. It isn’t going to make Djokovic that popular with the crowds that have been seen at his exhibitions. Not a spare seat, rammed! I have stuck up for Djokovic in this article to an extent and generally of late but I do think the crowds have been ridiculous at his event. You can’t really excuse that (see below).

Until next time, look after yourselves and one another.
Andy Del Potro