New York governor Andrew Cuomo approves U.S. Open in August without fans

New York governor Andrew Cuomo has officially given the go-ahead for the U.S. Open to begin as scheduled, which would make it the first sporting event to be held in New York since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

"We're excited about the U.S. Open, (which) is going to be held in Queens, Aug. 31 through Sept. 13. It will be held without fans, but you can watch it on TV and I'll take that," Cuomo said. "The tennis authorities are going to be taking extraordinary precautions, but that's going to take place."

Mike Dowse, U.S. Tennis Association chief executive officer and executive director, released a statement on behalf of the USTA.

"We are incredibly excited that Governor Cuomo and New York State have today approved our plan to host the 2020 US Open," Mike Dowse said in a statement. "We recognize the tremendous responsibility of hosting one of the first global sporting events in these challenging times, and we will do so in the safest manner possible, mitigating all potential risks. We now can give fans around the world the chance to watch tennis' top athletes compete for a US Open title, and we can showcase tennis as the ideal social distancing sport."

With the schedule tentatively set, the big question remaining is will the big names in tennis show up for the tournament? Rafael Nadal has previously expressed his skepticism about playing in the midst of the pandemic and Nick Kyrgios called the USTA "selfish" for attempting to keep the tournament on schedule.