This year's U.S. Open will be missing both 2019 singles champions, because Bianca Andreescu announced Thursday she was pulling out of the Grand Slam tournament, joining Rafael Nadal on the sideline.
Both cited the coronavirus pandemic in their explanations for withdrawing.
One big name who said Thursday he will be at the U.S. Open and the hard-court tuneup tournament that will precede it at Flushing Meadows: No. 1 Novak Djokovic.

That means one member of the Big Three of men's tennis will be present; in addition to Nadal's absence, Roger Federer is out for the rest of the season after two operations on his right knee.

Djokovic has won three of his 17 Grand Slam titles at the U.S. Open and was the runner-up there five times. He gets a chance to gain on Federer, who owns a men's-record

Andreescu, who hasn't played on tour since October in part because of injury, said the COVID-19 outbreak prevented her from properly preparing for competition. The women's tour only recently restarted after a coronavirus-forced hiatus of nearly six months; the men's tour is planning to resume in a week.