Tennis’ Most Ambitious Doubleheader in Years is Underway

The women’s event has 12 of the top 20, including No. 3 Karolina Pliskova, No. 4 Sofia Kenin, No. 9 Serena Williams, No. 10 Naomi Osaka and No. 13 Madison Keys, the defending women’s singles champion. Coco Gauff, the remarkable American 16-year-old, will face No. 21 seed Maria Sakkari in the first round.

It will be, more than ever in this setting, a test run for the U.S. Open, but it will also be an event trying to remain connected to its Midwestern base.

The Grandstand will house artwork linking two bridges designed by John Roebling: the Brooklyn Bridge in New York and the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge, which spans the Ohio River between Cincinnati and Covington, Ky.

Before each night session, tournament volunteers, ticket holders and others will toss a coin virtually from the Cincinnati area to the chair umpire in New York before the official coin toss.

Some of the equipment will still be connected to the tournament’s usual site, too. This month, Dick Clark, director of facilities for the Western Southern Open, drove to New York from Mason, Ohio, in a rental truck full of material.

“We had to bring our umpires’ chairs because we have LED signage attached to those, and all the nets with our logos because the U.S. Open doesn’t utilize the same ones, and our player benches that are branded,” Haas said. “It was a very large truck.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/21/sports/tennis-most-ambitious-doubleheader-in-years-is-underway.html