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LONDON — Mikel Arteta believes Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang can be convinced to stay at Arsenal despite the Gabon striker’s admission that he faces a tough decision over his future.

Aubameyang is out of contract in June 2021 and is yet to sign a new deal at the Premier League club.

Linked with Barcelona, Real Madrid and Chelsea, Aubameyang, who turns 31 on Thursday, has hinted he could consider leaving north London if Arsenal cannot match his ambitions.

Aubameyang, who has scored 61 goals in 97 appearances for the club, was quoted this week as saying he felt he was at a “turning point” in his career.

“Arsenal hold the keys for my extension,” he told French football programme Telefoot. “It’s up to them to do their job and then we’ll see how things go.”

He added: “It will be a very tough choice to make... It could be the most important choice of my career but nothing is decided for now.”

However, Arteta is adamant Aubameyang is happy at Arsenal and the Spaniard accepts it is up to him to show his star striker it is the right decision to stay at the Emirates.

“I think it is our responsibility to make him feel that this is the right next step in his career,” Arteta told reporters in a video press conference on Monday.

“In order to do that he needs to feel valued. I think he needs to feel he belongs to us and we want him.

“He really needs to believe we can take this club forward the way we want to do. He is going to be a key player to do that.”

Arteta said he was “extremely happy” with how Aubameyang had been performing.

“I have a really good relationship with him,” said the Arsenal boss. “We can discuss face to face a lot of things. So far I think he is really happy at the club.

“We have many discussions with Pierre, his family and his agent. I am pretty positive we can find the right agreement for all parties.”

Former Borussia Dortmund star Aubameyang reportedly wants to play for a Champions League team capable of winning major trophies.

Arsenal, who sit ninth in the Premier League ahead of Wednesday’s restart at Manchester City, are some way short of that level at present.

If Aubameyang does not commit his future to the club soon, Arsenal could look to sell him in order to avoid losing him for free at the end of next season.

Arteta acknowledged Champions League action would be attractive to Aubameyang, but he still believes Arsenal can sign and keep top players despite their current reduced status.

“I think that would help to persuade anybody,” he said. “But we are very lucky to have the club that we have. A lot of players want to come and join us.

“It’s not just about who we can attract, it’s how happy are the players who are here and how convinced they are that they are at the right place.

“It is almost our obligation to be fighting for every trophy and to be in the Champions League with this club.”

Liverpool were 25 points clear of Manchester City and within touching distance of becoming English champions for the first time since 1990 when the league was suspended in March.

But while COVID-19 may have delayed their title party, nobody seriously believes it is not going to happen. 

Two more wins would make it mathematically impossible for City to catch Liverpool, but the Reds could triumph by winning their first game, at Merseyside neighbours Everton on Sunday, if City lose at home to Arsenal on Wednesday.

BERLIN — Bayern Munich coach Hansi Flick wants his side to “seal the deal” and wrap up an eighth consecutive Bundesliga title on Tuesday with victory at relegation-threatened Werder Bremen.

Top scorer Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Mueller, one shy of the record for assists in a single season, are both available again after missing Bayern’s 2-1 win over Borussia Moenchengladbach due to suspension.

Victory at Bremen, where Bayern have won all 12 games over the last decade, will clinch a record-extending 30th league title, and the first leg of a potential treble in Flick’s debut season in charge.

“We want to finish the job on Tuesday. That is our goal. We have an excellent run and want to continue our winning streak,” said Flick, who stepped in when Niko Kovac was sacked last November.

“The target is to win again in Bremen. We want to just seal the deal.”

Bayern have won their last 10 league games and another victory on Tuesday would leave them an unassailable 10 points clear before second-placed Borussia Dortmund, who have three matches left, host strugglers Mainz on Wednesday. 

“It’s our plan to bring it [the trophy] back home,” said midfielder Leon Goretzka.

Lewandowski, the league’s leading scorer with 30 goals this term, netted twice while Mueller, who is sitting on 20 assists, also got on the scoresheet when Bayern thrashed Bremen 6-1 when the sides met in December.

Poland star Lewandowski has struck 45 goals in all competitions this campaign and needs one more to establish a new Bundesliga personal best, having also reached the 30-goal plateau in 2015-16 and 2016-17.

Despite laboured displays in their last two games, including a 2-1 semifinal win over Frankfurt in the German Cup, Bayern have a legitimate shot at landing a second treble in seven years.

First, Bayern, who are also well within reach of the Champions League quarter-finals, must take care of a Bremen side fighting for Bundesliga survival.

Bremen have taken 10 points from a possible 18 recently, boosting their hopes with a 5-1 rout of bottom side Paderborn on Saturday, but head coach Florian Kohfeldt played down any talk of an upset.

“There’s no reason to go into this with any kind of euphoria. We haven’t won anything yet and we’re still in a relegation zone,” said the 37-year-old Kohfeldt, who has lost all five games against Bayern.

The player to watch is  Andre Silva

The Portugal international has struck a rich vein of form since the season’s resumption, with a return of six goals in seven appearances — more than any other player in the league.

The 24-year-old striker is rebuilding his young career while on loan in Germany, after struggling with AC Milan following a big-money move from Porto in 2017.

He has scored 10 times in 22 Bundesliga appearances with Eintracht, and came off the bench to net twice and grab an assist in Saturday’s 4-1 win at Hertha Berlin.

AMMAN — The planet’s toughest test of motorsports endurance returns to Saudi Arabia in the New Year as a brand-new Dakar Rally route will push committed petrolheads to the limit over diverse landscapes.

After four decades of desert action in Africa and South America, a stunning debut in the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year saw the Dakar capture the imagination of adventurous rally fans the world over once again. In January 2021, the world’s toughest rally is heading back to Saudi Arabia for another fortnight of exhilarating offroad action.

The Dakar convoy will start their 2021 odyssey on the shores of the Red Sea as they depart Jeddah on January 3. Competitors will spend the following two weeks navigating their way through Saudi Arabia’s expansive deserts. A well-earned Rest Day will come in the ancient city of Ha’il at the midway point on January 9.

A hero’s reception awaits those who manage to meet every challenge and cross the finish line back in Jeddah on January 15. The winners of each category (Car, Bike, Truck, Quad and UTV) will be celebrated on the podium, but everyone who completes the Dakar has the right to be satisfied at overcoming the toughest test of endurance.

As well as a new route for 2021, further innovations will be added to the mix to increase the sporting challenges of the event while always prioritising participant safety. Handing out the roadbook of a stage just 10 minutes before racing starts will bring navigation skills to the fore. Also, among the new regulations are strict rules governing tyres. No tyre changes will be allowed in the car category during the marathon stage while each motorbike will be granted a total of six rear tyres for the entire rally.

To ensure competitors remain as safe as possible there will be audible warnings ahead of danger zones. Furthermore, certain hazardous sections will be categorised as “slow zones” where the speed limit will be set at 90kph. Airbag vests will now be mandatory and subject to inspection by race officials during technical scrutineering.

Dakar Rally director David Castera said: “[During the 2020 Dakar] stage after stage, and often multiple times within the same stage, the majestic landscapes of the region left us dazzled and in awe. However, Saudi Arabia only revealed a tiny part of its mysteries, leaving plenty of surprises in store for the next edition in January 2021.”

Also new in 2021 will be Dakar Classic, a parallel contest for vintage vehicles that will use the same start and finish points. In a nod to the unique heritage of the rally, memorable machines from the past such as the Renault 20, Lada Niva, Toyota Celica, Land Rover Defender and Porsche 959 are expected on the start line of the inaugural race.

Fresh route, new safety measures

The second edition of the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia will start and finish in Jeddah after venturing through the desert and along the Red Sea, organisers revealed on Thursday.

The 2021 version of the gruelling 12-day marathon will take participants into uncharted territory, with all timed sections of the loop course brand new to the race.

Competitors will set off from Jeddah towards the east and then head north, with a rest day in Ha’il on January 9, before tracing the Red Sea coastline back to the finish.

“We’ve made the most of all of Saudi Arabia,” Castera told AFP. “The country is so big that we managed to only use 50-100km of this year’s course.

“During each stage we find a bit of all the ingredients. We tried to keep a bit of the dunes, the technical sections and the quick parts each day.”

Following the deaths of two motorcyclists, Portugal’s Paulo Goncalves and Dutchman Edwin Straver, on this year’s rally, enhanced safety measures will be introduced in 2021.

Riders will be forced to wear airbag vests, while aural warnings will notify competitors in the approach to potential dangers with designated “slow zones” limiting the speed to 90kmh in especially tricky sectors.

Following a test run in 2020, road books will be distributed to participants just before the start of each stage, as opposed to the previous evening. Digital versions will be available in certain categories.

Castera said the coronavirus pandemic had forced organisers to revise their plans for next year’s rally.

“We had mapped out a Dakar with other countries. Unfortunately, the week of confinement we should have left for a tour. We weren’t able to do it, so we were obliged to abandon our project for this year,” he said.

“We’ll do it another time. We have three surrounding countries who want it and fit in with our DNA: Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.”

Castera also conceded the financial impact of the global health crisis would likely result in fewer participants over the next two years.

The event, launched in 1979 with its original route between Paris and the Senegalese capital Dakar, moved to Saudi Arabia this year after a decade in South America, a decision which sparked an angry reaction from human rights organisations.

ROME — Juventus reached the Italian Cup final on Friday after a goalless draw with 10-man AC Milan in the semifinal, second leg in Turin on the day football returned to Italy after three months away.

Serie A champions Juve advanced on away goals to Wednesday’s final in Rome thanks to February’s 1-1 first-leg draw at the San Siro, despite an under-par display against a Milan side who played 74 minutes with a man less and which featured a missed Cristiano Ronaldo penalty.

At the capital’s Stadio Olimpico, Maurizio Sarri’s side will face either Napoli or Inter Milan, the last side Juve faced before football entered into its coronavirus-enforced hiatus in March.

“It was odd and difficult at the start, playing in an empty stadium after 90 days away,” said Leonardo Bonucci to public broadcaster RAI 1.

“We’ve shaken off a dark moment for the whole world. I hope being back will offer the fans at home a bit of hope and joy. We want to give them something more on Wednesday.” 

A feisty start belied the two teams’ long absence from the pitch, with Juve — missing the likes of Giorgio Chiellini and Gonzalo Higuain — roaring out of the blocks and Milan putting in some questionable challenges to try to stop themselves from being overrun.

Juve should have been ahead in with just 15 minutes on the clock when Andrea Conti clipped the ball in the penalty area with his elbow and conceded a penalty after a VAR check.

Ronaldo hit the woodwork with the resulting spot-kick, but while that should have been a reprieve for the away side, they found themselves a man down seconds later when Ante Rebic kicked Danilo in the head.

With Zlatan Ibrahimovic out injured and Samu Castillejo suspended, Stefano Pioli’s side were missing some firepower going forward, but managed to create problems for Juve despite spending most of the match on the back foot.

Hakan Calhanoglu had Milan’s best chance two minutes after the restart, flashing a free header wide, while Simon Kjaer should have done better with another header 10 minutes from the end.

However, Juve also had their chances, with Milan stopper Gianluigi Donnarumma doing well to keep out Blaise Matuidi’s thumping close range effort on the half-hour mark, and two great efforts from Paulo Dybala and Alex Sandro late in the second half.

The match was played on the day Italy would have kicked off Euro 2020 in Rome had the tournament not been postponed for a year.

More than 34,000 people on the peninsula have died because of the coronavirus with the vast majority in northern regions like Piedmont and Lombardy which host Juve and Milan.

Juventus players warmed up before the match in T-shirts with the message “No Racism”, while Milan wore tops on with “Black Lives Matter” written on them, in solidarity with global protests over the death of George Floyd.

The few fans hanging around the Allianz Stadium told AFP that they were sad that matches had to take place without the passionate support that accompanies most matches in Italy.

“It’s hard for a team not to be able to count on the presence of the cheering fans,” said Massimiliano Balduzzi, 47, from Bergamo, one of the country’s worst-hit areas.

“I believe that there should always be cheering at the stadium. Unfortunately, with what happened, we can only keep on waiting and hope that everything will go well.”

LONDON — When Timo Werner seals his imminent move from RB Leipzig to Chelsea, the German’s turbulent rise from national pariah to one of Europe’s most feared forwards will be complete.

Chelsea are willing to meet the 60 million euro (£53 million, $67 million) release clause in Werner’s contract despite the economic crisis caused by coronavirus.

But for the pandemic, Werner could have been lining up for Liverpool next season after the 24-year-old admitted to being flattered by Jurgen Klopp’s interest.

However, Liverpool, concerned by the financial fallout from the virus, were not willing to pay Werner’s release clause before it expired this month.

So instead Chelsea are set to add some much-needed firepower to Frank Lampard’s revamped attack next season.

The Germany international has scored 31 goals for Leipzig in all competitions this season, including four in five games since the Bundesliga returned last month.

Werner has already proved he can trouble Premier League defences. He played an influential role as Leipzig thrashed Tottenham in the Champions League last 16, bagging the only goal of the first leg from the penalty spot.

Michael Ballack knows exactly what it takes to shine in the Premier League after leaving Germany and the former Chelsea and Bayern Munich midfielder believes Werner has the qualities required to adapt to English football.

“I think it’s a good decision for both sides. For Timo, because he fits there, because the way [Chelsea] play football suits him,” Ballack said.

“He is a robust player, is very fast, but he is also physically good in a duel and he will quickly get used to it.”

The fanfare around Werner comes just two years after his reputation had taken a major hit amid World Cup misery and diving accusations.

That storm was a far cry from Werner’s humble upbringing in Stuttgart, where his father Guenther Schuh played at the amateur level.

Mario Gomez, an icon at Stuttgart, was Werner’s hero as a child and fuelled his dreams of playing for his hometown club.

He fulfilled that ambition in 2013, becoming Stuttgart’s youngest ever debutant aged 17 and their youngest scorer when he netted three times in his first 10 appearances.

‘You have to do more’

Earning the nickname ‘Turbo Timo’ because of his electric pace, which he attributes to running up mountains with his father as a child, Werner has been clocked at 11.1 seconds over 100 metres. 

“When I was younger it quickly became clear to me that if you want to become a professional, you have to do more,” he said.

Werner became the youngest player to make 50 Bundesliga appearances, but despite his goals, Stuttgart were relegated in 2016.

That convinced Werner to accept an offer to join newly-promoted Leipzig — an unpopular decision not just to the spurned Stuttgart faithful but German football public at large given the anger at Leipzig’s rise thanks to the backing of Red Bull.

Slammed for a lack of loyalty, Werner found himself public enemy number one when a blatant dive against Schalke enraged fans and pundits alike in 2016.

The unassuming Werner rebuilt his confidence to head to the 2018 World Cup as Germany’s leading striker, but failed to score in three games as the holders crashed out at the first hurdle for the first time since 1938.

Seeking help from a sports psychologist, Werner showed his maturity by using the backlash to fuel his development.

“He told me that I could silence everyone who doesn’t like me by doing just one thing: scoring,” Werner told Focus magazine at the time.

Werner’s mission was quickly accomplished as his goals fired Leipzig into the Champions League, earning widespread admiration just months after he had been pilloried by the critics.

With 92 goals in all competitions since joining Leipzig, Werner should add the goal threat Chelsea have often lacked this season.

After a blistering start to the campaign, Tammy Abraham’s form had stagnated before the virus lockdown, with an ankle injury hampering his progress.

Werner’s ability to cut in from the left or play through the middle offers options to complement Abraham and Olivier Giroud as Chelsea look to take the next step in their development under Lampard.

MADRID — La Liga President Javier Tebas said the games would have to go on and from Thursday they will, with stadiums full of virtual fans, crowd noise from a computer game and fewer than 300 people allowed to attend. 

As Ligue 1 in France was called off and the Premier League, still the benchmark for Spanish football, tied itself in knots, La Liga has been steadfast in its pursuit of completion.

The government in Spain had indicated it would be good for morale, perhaps even important for their standing in the world, while the country’s infatuation with football meant the prime minister was often addressing the question of its return. 

Yet, driving La Liga’s determination, as Tebas admitted, was the fear of financial meltdown. Cancellation would cost clubs a billion euros, he repeated, and no team would be spared. 

Even with the season about to resume, Barcelona and Real Madrid have had to impose pay cuts. Atletico Madrid said they enforced a drop in wages “to guarantee their future”.

Public opposition to the season continuing has therefore been fleeting. Eibar’s players said last month they were “afraid” to go back to training while Valencia’s Gabriel Paulista was one of the few to say it felt rushed. 

Among the governing bodies, the players’ union was sidelined and even the conflict between La Liga and the Spanish football federation was largely put on hold. 

Instead, La Liga has answered to the health authorities, who have always had the power to scrap even the most advanced plans at any given moment. 

So when Sevilla host Real Betis on Thursday to begin a 39-day sprint finish with matches every day, they will do so according to strict guidelines that even this week were still being updated. 

“We’ve planned everything to the last millimetre,” Tebas said.

Players will be tested for coronavirus within 24 hours of kick-off and visiting teams will use exclusive flights and hotels, before travelling to stadiums in two buses to ensure social distancing is maintained. Home team players will arrive in their own cars.

Both sets of players will have their temperatures taken before entering stadiums and will arrive wearing masks and gloves. All communal areas like changing rooms will be disinfected and aired before, during and after games. 

Only 270 people will be allowed inside stadiums, including club players and staff, doctors and security personnel, matchday and club officials, as well as press and technicians. 

Tributes will be paid to the victims and heroes of the coronavirus pandemic, in the form of a minute’s silence before kick-off and applause, contributed by real supporters and transmitted inside the stadium, in the 20th minute. 

Tebas has insisted the risk of infection once games are in play is “practically zero” given the amount of physical contact but the summer heat in Spain must be considered too. 

Fixture lists now come with temperature predictions and, already, two kick-off times have been adjusted. Five substitutes will be allowed instead of three, as well as two drinks breaks. 

Some regions in Spain have moved faster through the government’s de-escalation programme than others and Tebas has said he would be in favour of clubs bringing supporters back when they can. 

That could accelerate the league’s initial timetable for 30 per cent of fans to return in September, 50 per cent in November and 100 per cent in January 2021. Until then, everyone will have to adapt.

MADRID — “I’ve missed this place,” Lionel Messi said after stepping onto the Camp Nou grass for the first time in three months but when Barcelona return to action he knows it will not be the same.

Instead, La Liga’s frenzied title race will take another step into the unknown as Barca run out into the biggest and now emptiest stadium in Europe after Real Madrid switch to a different home altogether. 

Two points separate Spain’s greatest rivals ahead of the return to top-flight games on Thursday, when the derby between Sevilla and Real Betis will end a 93-day hiatus and launch a five-week sprint to the finish. 

When games were suspended on March 12, Madrid had handed first place back to Barcelona, just after beating them at the Santiago Bernabeu, a seemingly significant shift in momentum that lasted exactly a week. 

Given the many frailties of the two teams, few could predict who will emerge the stronger from the final 11 games of the season but a fresh factor will be who adapts better to strange surroundings. 

Instead of their 81,000-capacity stadium in the city-centre, under renovation this summer, Real Madrid will play at the 6,000-seater Alfredo di Stefano Stadium, usually the home of the club’s reserve and under-18 teams, at their training ground in the northern suburbs. 

Barcelona, meanwhile, will trade the advantage of Europe’s largest home crowd for the challenge of its most empty arena, where the absence of fans will, in numerical terms at least, feel starker than anywhere else.

“It’s the first time we have to play games without the fans,” said Madrid’s Toni Kroos earlier this month. “The team that adjusts best to this situation is the one that will win.” 

For Barca, it will not be the first time. 

Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets, Gerard Pique, Sergi Roberto, Jordi Alba and Marc-Andre ter Stegen all played against Las Palmas in October 2017, when the club closed its doors at Camp Nou in protest against the game going ahead amid political unrest. 

They won 3-0 but while that was a one-off, this time there are five home games to navigate, including Atletico Madrid, who would be more easily overcome with the help of a crowd. 

Leganes and Espanyol, sitting 19th and 20th respectively, may feel emboldened too. 

“I love that connection with the fans, it’s what allows us to feel those moments of happiness, to live them,” said Barca’s Arturo Vidal. “But we will have to adapt.” 

On Saturday, the team held their first full training session at Camp Nou in almost seven years and Real Madrid have been trying to acclimatise too, with Zinedine Zidane overseeing regular meetings at their new ground. 

The pitch replicates exactly the 105 x 60-metre measurements of the Bernabeu while the club’s groundsman, Paul Burgess, has been moved over to work on the surface. 

Neutral venue

But innovations are needed, with the club having to improve the lighting for broadcasting, add advertising boards and install the technology for VAR.

For Zidane, the setting is familiar because he led Madrid’s reserve side, Castilla, for 28 games there before taking charge of the first team. He even made his last appearance there in a Real Madrid shirt, to open the stadium in 2006. 

Dani Carvajal, Sergio Ramos, Casemiro, Fede Valverde, Vinicius Junior, Lucas Vazquez and Rodrygo all came through the ranks playing on the Alfredo di Stefano grass. 

Yet, six home games against Eibar, Valencia, Mallorca, Getafe, Alaves and Villarreal offer no guarantees and, unlike Barcelona’s opponents, those teams will not even feel an historic anxiety. 

For them, the Alfredo di Stefano Stadium might feel more like a neutral venue. 

“Personally, I would prefer to play at the Bernabeu,” said Ramos.

If home advantage is less certain, Barcelona could suffer most. They have collected the most home points so far in the division and nine more than Real Madrid. 

But if they find away points are easier to collect, Barcelona have more room for improvement than Real. The unknowns make an erratic title race even more unpredictable. 

BERLIN — Robert Lewandowski scored his 30th league goal of the season on Saturday as Bayern Munich came from behind to claim a 4-2 victory at Bayer Leverkusen and move a step closer to the Bundesliga title.

After Lucas Alario secured an early lead for the home side, Bayern struck twice in quick succession just before half-time to turn the game in their favour after Kingsley Coman’s equaliser.

“We didn’t start well, but I think it’s something which really distinguishes us at the moment, that we are able to fight our way back into games,” midfielder Leon Goretzka told Sky. 

“Without the crowd pushing you, you have to rely on yourself and your team-mates. We are doing this well at the moment.”

Lewandowski netted in the second half — setting a new personal best with 44 goals in all competitions — as Bayern established a 10-point lead over title rivals Borussia Dortmund, who host Hertha Berlin later on Saturday, although Leverkusen teenager Florian Wirtz’s strike late on made him the Bundesliga’s youngest-ever scorer.

The game also saw Bayern lend their support to protests over the death of black American man George Floyd, with all their players wearing armbands bearing the slogan “Black Lives Matter”.

“As players, we always have the same message: we are tolerant, we are open, we are open to the world,” Bayern captain Manuel Neuer told Sky after the game.

With their talisman and Bayern transfer target Kai Havertz ruled out with a muscle injury, Leverkusen turned to Alario to lead the line against the champions.

The Argentine delivered after just nine minutes, beating the offside trap after a throw-in to slot the ball past Neuer.

A mistake from Moussa Diaby allowed Coman to curl in the equaliser, before a fizzing shot from Goretzka and an elegant lob from Serge Gnabry saw Bayern take a two-goal lead before half-time.

Lewandowski finished the job with a well-placed header after the break, equalling his most prolific Bundesliga season, but there was still time for Wirtz to curl in a consolation goal for Leverkusen before the final whistle.

Wirtz set the new record for youngest scorer in the German top flight, aged 17 years and 34 days, beating the record set by Nuri Sahin for Borussia Dortmund in November 2005 by 48 days.

Elsewhere, a late equaliser from Christian Strohdiek gave bottom-of-the-table Paderborn a faint glimmer of hope in the race for survival, as they snatched a 1-1 draw away to RB Leipzig.

Chelsea-bound Leipzig striker Timo Werner set up Patrik Schick on 27 minutes to give Leipzig the lead, but they were forced to defend it with 10 men after Dayot Upamecano was booked twice in the first half.

Strohdiek’s last-minute strike gave Paderborn their fourth draw in five games, though Steffen Baumgart’s side remain eight points off Fortuna Duesseldorf who occupy the relegation play-off place.

Duesseldorf themselves missed the chance to move towards safety, as they battled to a dramatic 2-2 draw against 10-man Hoffenheim.

A headed opener from Rouwen Hennings and a red card for Hoffenheim’s Benjamin Huebner put the home side in pole position, but the visitors struck back with goals from Munas Dabbur and Steven Zuber before Hennings saved a point with a late penalty.

Uwe Roesler’s side remain three points adrift of survival, after goals from Moussa Niakhate and Pierre Kunde Malong gave fellow strugglers Mainz a rare 2-0 win over local rivals Eintracht Frankfurt.

BELGRADE — World No. 1 Novak Djokovic described the strict hygiene restrictions under which the US Open is likely to be played as “extreme” and a cap on support teams as “really impossible” on Friday.

As doubts grow over whether or not the Grand Slam event can go ahead as scheduled in New York, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States, Djokovic admitted the demands of organisers could create severe strain.

“Just yesterday I had a telephone conversation with the leaders of world tennis, there were talks about the continuation of the season, mostly about the US Open due in late August, but it is not known whether it will be held,” the 33-year-old Serb told Prva TV television and quoted by Blic online daily.

“The rules that they told us that we would have to respect to be there, to play at all, they are extreme.”

Djokovic, champion at the US Open in 2011, 2015 and 2018, described planned limits on player entourages as “really impossible”.

“We would not have access to Manhattan, we would have to sleep in hotels at the airport, to be tested twice or three times per week. 

“Also, we could bring one person to the club which is really impossible. 

“I mean, you need your coach, then a fitness trainer, then a physiotherapist.

“All their suggestions are really rigorous but I can understand that due to financial reasons, due to already existing contracts, organisers [want the event to be] held. We will see what will happen.”

Nadal, Barty fears

Djokovic was speaking a day after World No. 2 Rafael Nadal had expressed similar reservations over the US Open, the main draw for which starts on August 31.

Nadal, who won a fourth US Open in 2019, said that if the New York showpiece was being staged this week, he would not play.

“We cannot resume until the situation is completely safe and fair in terms of health in that all players, wherever they come from, can travel and play tournaments in safe conditions,” Nadal told reporters in a video conference call.

“If you told me to play the US Open today, I would say ‘no’. 

“In a few months, I don’t know. I hope so. We have to wait for people to return to normal life. And when it does, wait to see how the virus evolves.”

The tennis tour has been in cold storage since mid-March and will not resume until late July at the earliest.

Wimbledon was cancelled for the first time since World War II, while the French Open has been shifted from May-June to September-October.

Earlier Friday, women’s World No. 1 Ashleigh Barty also voiced caution about resuming tennis too soon, saying she needed more information before committing to the US Open.

“It’s exciting that tennis is being talked about again and things are moving in the right direction for us to start competing,” she told the Sydney Morning Herald.

“But I’d need to understand all of the information and advice from the WTA and the USTA before making a decision on the US events.”

It is expected that the ATP and WTA will issue an update on the US Open and the rest of the season on Wednesday.

Even if the US Open goes ahead, it will likely be behind closed doors.