Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova follows Ashleigh Barty and Rafael Nadal in not playing the upcoming US Open. The 29 years old decided not to compete in the American slam as she would not be comfortable to play the event because of the Coronavirus pandemic.
The Russian posted her statement on Instagram, stressing the fact that the US Open could not offer the necessary security to play.
“I’ve been thinking a lot and decided not to play US Open @usopen this year. It wasn’t easy because I hadn’t missed any Grand Slam in my entire carrier. Tennis is almost everything for me.
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The main reason is insecurity, US Open doesn’t provide any guarantees. I don’t feel comfortable to travel to USA in such circumstances.
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Thanks WTA and USTA that give us a chance to play. From this moment, every player is on his own. My team and I have decided it would be for the best not to participate,” said Anastasia.
On the WTA side, Anastasia is the 3rd top30 player to announce her withdrawal from the US Open after Ashleigh Barty and Qiang Wang. Pavlyuchenkova lost in the 2nd round last year at the US Open to Kiki Bertens while this year she reached the quarters at the Australian Open before losing to Garbine Muguruza.
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in 2020
Currently ranked no.30, Pavlyuchenkova played her last match on the 19th of February when she lost to Anett Kontaveit 7-65 7-5 in the 2nd round in Dubai.
Rafael Nadal in 2020
Ranked no.2, the Spaniard played his last match on the 29th of February when he defeated Taylor Fritz 6-3 6-2 in the final in Acapulco to win his 85th career title.
Presently, this year Nadal has a 13-3 win-loss record. The Spaniard conquered 1 title in Acapulco.