By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
After losing Nick Kyrgios, defending champion Rafael Nadal, and women’s world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty, the US Open received more tournament withdrawals due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The latest to back out are world No. 5 Elina Svitolina and world No. 7 Kiki Bertens.
Both top 10 seeds expressed their concerns and fears in traveling to the US what with the spiking rate of COVID-19 cases.
Svitolina explained that she cannot put herself, her family, and her coaching team at high risk without getting an assurance of immunity against the surging virus.
Bertens was deeply concerned with her quarantine period going in and going out of the US.
“The situation around COVID-19 is still that worrying and the health of everyone and the control over this virus is priority,” Bertens wrote in an Instagram post.
With the successive withdrawals by the top-seeded players in the US Open, the fate of the next grand-slam tournament, the French Open, also hangs in the balance.
