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Vaccinations, anyone?
The tennis begins at 11 a.m. Monday at the U.S. Open with no Roger Federer, no Rafael Nadal, no Serena Williams and no unvaccinated fans.
The U.S. Open is the first tennis tournament to go full capacity since the pandemic, but in the past week, the tournament strengthened its COVID-19 fan protocols.
On Friday, the USTA announced only vaccinated fans with documentation will be allowed into Flushing Meadows despite tickets going on sale two months ago with no restrictions.
On Saturday, the USTA’s original decision was reversed by the mayor’s office, ruling Arthur Ashe Stadium an indoor venue when the roof is in place, meaning masks must be worn.
Mayor Bill de Blasio also decreed only vaccinated fans could be allowed into that main stadium, but the USTA then took it a step further and extended the ban to the entire grounds so as not to create mass confusion at various entrances.
In June, the USTA originally decided the air filtration system was good enough at Ashe for it to still be considered an outdoor venue. The USTA held a one-hour press conference Wednesday to reaffirm its belief in Ashe as an outdoor space. So much for that.
Meanwhile, the roof closes during rainy matches but stays in place throughout the card once closed, even if the rain goes away.
Hence, bring an extra mask, and don’t forget the vaccination card. The USTA said Friday night that Ticketmaster would refund tickets to unvaccinated fans if they don’t care to sell them, but fans still were receiving no-refund messages on the website 20 hours after the announcement.
A USTA spokesman said Ticketmaster was delayed in changing the message and refunds responses now appear. Tickets sales were already down because of the dearth of international tourists who normally flock to Flushing for the Open.
At least there’ll be bodies in the seats — as opposed to the depressing 2020 Open.
“We all have seen in a world still dealing with COVID-19 and things began to shift,’’ USTA spokesman Chris Widmaier told The Post. “With the release of the Mayor’s Executive Order last week, we, and everyone else in New York City, got further details on identification of indoor public spaces. We began to make adjustments then. Over the past day or so, further evolution on what specifically qualifies as an indoor space became clear, so we needed to further adjust our protocols.“Certainly [it] was never our intent to inconvenience anyone who purchased a ticket, but COVID-19 and the Delta variant are still causing problems and obstacles for all of us, and the U.S. Open will follow all governmental guidelines and do our best to limit any inconveniences to our fans.’’
The mayor’s office stated the Mets and Yankees don’t require proof of vaccination for fans because both stadiums are entirely outdoors. That the USTA took the extra step of banning unvaccinated fans from the entire grounds was applauded by the mayor’s office.
“The U.S. Open made that decision, but we fully support it,’’ the mayor’s spokesperson told The Post. “The notable difference: Yankee Stadium and Citi Field do not have roofs. They are not enclosed buildings like the U.S. Open stadiums.’’
The irony is not lost that about 50 percent of the players in the ATP and WTA are unvaccinated. Third-seed Stefanos Tsitsipas boasted about his unvaccinated status as recently as two weeks ago at the Cincinnati warm-up.
The Greek phenom faces former Open champion Andy Murray in a marquee first-rounder on Ashe Stadium on Monday’s day card. Murray feels the vaccinated versus unvaccinated player issue will grow in importance.
“Over the next few months things are going to probably end up changing quite a bit,’’ Murray said Sunday. “I know the conversations with regards to the Australian Open and stuff are already happening. There’s going to have to be a lot of pretty long, hard conversations. Even in New York, you’ve got the situation with gyms need to be vaccinated; eating in restaurants. The reason why all of us are getting vaccinated is to look out for the wider public. We have a responsibility as players that are traveling across the world to look out for everyone else as well.’’
— Melissa Klein contributed to this report
Source: NYPOST
