Ben Solomon for The New York Times
After weeks of clinging to its hopes of holding the United States Open at its traditional New York home in front of fans, the United States Tennis Association has begun to seriously explore a series of alternative plans for the signature event that accounts for more than 80 percent of its revenue.
The scheduled late-August start of the tournament, one of the largest events in New York City, is still three months away. But the dual realities of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the financial peril the U.S.T.A. would face if it has to cancel have forced the organization to consider whether it can hold its premier event somewhere besides Flushing Meadows, the park next to the central Queens neighborhoods that have been at the epicenter of the Covid-19 outbreak in the city.