Novak Djokovic had to deal with matters off the court before winning his third round match at the US Open on FridaySix days of the US Open fortnight may have passed, but do not be under any illusion that this closed-doors grand-slam event does not remain in a precarious position. The attempts by Novak Djokovic to make direct contact with the New York state governor Andrew Cuomo in a bid to resolve a stand-off between tournament officials and health authorities on Friday were a sobering reminder of these strange times. As one of the leaders of the new player union, the world No 1 from Serbia felt obliged to step in when he discovered that the third-round match between Alexander Zverev and Adrian Mannarino was on the brink of cancellation. In a complex bureaucratic dispute, state authorities had suddenly raised concerns that Mannarino — the No

Source: The Times September 06, 2020 03:33 UTC