The fate of this year’s US Open will not be decided until June, but it is “highly unlikely” to be staged behind closed doors.

The US Tennis Association (USTA) has set up a medical advisory group to help them determine whether it will be safe to play the tournament.

The US Open is due to begin at Flushing Meadows in New York on 31 August.

More than 10,000 people have died from coronavirus in the city and lockdown measures have been extended to 15 May.

Nearly three quarters of a million people attended last year’s US Open, and when asked if they would play without fans, USTA chief executive Mike Dowse said: “We’re not taking anything off the table right now, but to be honest and open, I think that’s highly unlikely.

“That’s not really in the spirit of the celebration of tennis, and it also goes back to the health and wellbeing of our players and support staff that help run the tournament.

“Unless the medical experts come up with a solution that truly is foolproof and safe, we don’t see that as an option.”

A tournament behind closed doors still involves several thousand people. The USTA would be able to fulfil its commitment to broadcasters, but would still have to pay the players while missing out on vast revenue from ticket sales, food and drink, and merchandise.

The USTA is still aiming to run the tournament as scheduled, but has previously indicated it may explore the possibility of pushing it back into the autumn.

The French Tennis Federation has already rescheduled Roland Garros to run from 20 September to 4 October, pushing the tournament back four months from its original date of 24 May to 7 June.

While Wimbledon, due to be played between 29 June and 12 July, has been cancelled.

“In one sense we’re very fortunate that we are the fourth Grand Slam to go, so time is on our side at this point,” Dowse continued.

“The driving factor will be the health and wellbeing of the players, the fans and our staff. And to that, we just don’t have enough information if we can run the tournament safely.

“We’ve set a time frame around June to make that decision, and the way we are approaching it is through a medical advisory group.

“We have five or six doctors consulting with us on a regular basis, and based on that information we will ultimately make the decision if it’s safe to play the tournament or not.”

The Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre, which stages the US Open every year, is currently operating as a 450-bed hospital for the people of New York.

Dowse says they are also making 25,000 meals a day for health care professionals, and for children who are missing out on school lunches.

Coco Gauff says she had depression because of the “pressure that she needed to do well” little more than a year before she stunned the tennis world at Wimbledon in 2019.

American Gauff, then 15, reached the last 16 at the All England Club, most notably defeating five-time champion Venus Williams in the first round.

But she says she struggled with a “dark mindset” for a year around 2017-18.

“I was struggling to figure out if this was really what I wanted,” Gauff said.

In a piece for Behind the Racquet, the 16-year-old added: “I always had the results so that wasn’t the issue, I just found myself not enjoying what I loved.”

In qualifying for Wimbledon, Gauff became the youngest player in the Open era to qualify for the main draw.

But she says achieving firsts in the past contributed to her struggles.

“Throughout my life, I was always the youngest to do things, which added hype that I didn’t want,” she said.

“It added this pressure that I needed to do well fast.”

She added: “I realised I needed to start playing for myself and not other people. For about a year I was really depressed. That was the toughest year for me so far.

“When you are in that dark mindset you don’t look on the bright side of things too often, which is the hardest part.

“I don’t think it had much to do with tennis, maybe just about juggling it all. I knew that I wanted to play tennis but didn’t know how I wanted to go about it.”

Such was her unhappiness, Gauff considered taking a year off tennis – a decision she is glad she never made.

“Choosing not to obviously was the right choice but I was close to not going in that direction,” she said.

“I was just lost. It took many moments sitting, thinking and crying. I came out of it stronger and knowing myself better than ever.”

• Ex-Wimbledon junior champion gives players chance to open up with Behind the Racquet

‘I don’t like being compared to Serena or Venus’

After her Wimbledon run and similar performances at the US and Australian Opens, Gauff says she is “getting used to” the idea of being a role model. However, she admits that brings pressure of its own.

“I know people are watching every move,” she said. “For the most part it is easy because I am always just being myself, not putting up a front, which people seem to be OK with.

“I don’t feel like I have to flip a switch or anything. In the beginning I thought I had to be perfect but I’ve done a lot of soul searching and moved past it.”

But she dislikes comparisons with Serena and Venus Williams, who share 30 Grand Slam singles titles between them and were her inspirations to get into the sport.

“For me, one of the biggest things is to continue breaking barriers,” she said. “At the same time, I don’t like being compared to Serena or Venus.

“First, I am not at their level yet. I always feel like it’s not fair to the Williams sisters to be compared to someone who is just coming up. It just doesn’t feel right yet, I still look at them as my idols.

“With all their accolades, I shouldn’t be put in the same group yet.

“Of course I hope to get to where they are but they are the two women that set the pathway for myself, which is why I can never be them.”

While some sportspeople have dabbled in painting or reading during the coronavirus lockdown, others have been tapping into a slightly newer phenomenon – TikTok.

In the fourth part of our ‘In isolation with…’ series, British tennis player Heather Watson talks about her rising fame on the video-making app.

Like millions of others across the world, I have been passing the time during lockdown by discovering TikTok. And now I’m obsessed!

That’s even though I suspect that, at the age of 27, I’m a little old for it! It seems as if it is mainly younger people under 20 and famous celebrities who use the app.

But I don’t care if I’m too ‘old’ or not. I’m having so much fun doing lots of silly videos and I’m getting positive responses from people who are enjoying watching them.

For those of you who don’t have a clue what TikTok is, or who have heard of it but don’t have an account, it is a fun app where you basically create videos. You can create anything.

The most popular ones are lip syncs and dance moves, but there are also cooking tips and now pop stars even use it to promote new songs.

I prefer going down the funny route and making fun of myself, dressing up and doing stupid stuff.

One of my TikTok inspirations is an American girl called Liza Koshy, who is a super famous blogger, Instagrammer, YouTuber… she is absolutely hilarious.

She is very creative in what she does and I’m a creative person too, so I’m loving doing something like this. Usually I wouldn’t have the time to do it while I’m on tour.

Like everyone else, I’m not able to play tennis so lockdown means I’m staying at home in London with my boyfriend Courtney.

He is an athlete too – he plays football for Yeovil Town – so that means we both have daily fitness schedules to do to make sure we’re staying in shape for whenever we can start playing again.

But it also leaves lots of time to create TikTok videos! Here are the five which I’ve enjoyed doing the most…

Flipping The Switch with Drake (and Courtney)

Everyone loves this one! I think it is my most popular video. But Courtney is the star of it.

So, this is where two people stand in front of the mirror, one recording and one dancing to the intro of Drake’s Nonstop song.

Then when the lyric comes in, it goes dark. You literally flip the switch off. When the light comes back on you have swapped clothes and you’re doing what the other person is doing.

In my video I’m wearing a super-girly, summery outfit – a crop top with frills and frilly pants – doing a cute dance.

Courtney is wearing a big puffa jacket and some grey tracksuit bottoms with his hood up, looking mean and moody.

When we flip the switch he’s wearing my dress and doing a sexy dance! We had to find a stretchy one he could fit into…

He didn’t take too much persuading to do that video but afterwards he got loads of stick from his friends. So now it is hard persuading him to do another one with me…

‘I’m claustrophobic, Darren!’ – going all TOWIE

From what I’ve seen of her I find reality television star Gemma Collins really funny – and this video allowed me to delve into my inner TOWIE.

One of her most famous moments came on Celebrity Big Brother when she went on a rant and ended by claiming to Darren Day that she is claustrophobic.

I’ve never really watched TOWIE or Celebrity Big Brother, but I know this clip so I thought it would be good for one of the videos.

I don’t necessarily pick a video because of the person, I pick it more because of what they are saying. This Gemma Collins clip was a bit ridiculous, becoming an iconic bit of reality TV.

So I thought I’m just going to dress up in the most bougie outfit I can find in my wardrobe. That wasn’t hard because I’ve got the weirdest clothes – as you can probably tell.

I put on a sports bra with a fluffy coat, clipped in a hair extension, and chucked on some jewellery and lipstick.

And I enjoyed putting on an Essex accent. I do that for fun just in my house when I’m alone and bored at home anyway.

Keeping Up With The… Kardashian impressions

Again, I’m not exactly a massive fan of Keeping Up With The Kardashians but this was another scene which I thought I could do something funny with.

Most people know who the Kardashians are, it is a long-running show and it is ingrained in popular culture.

So everyone will get it straight away, even if they don’t watch the show.

In this video you see me in three different outfits for a 12-second video, but honestly it doesn’t take me long to get ready.

First up is Kim Kardashian and I’m wearing pink-flared trousers with a matching tie-up top. They have lemons all over it.

I don’t know what I was thinking when I bought that outfit… I’ve never worn it. It was probably in the sale. At least it has been put to a good use now.

Next was her sister Kourtney. With her I put on a sparkly, sequinned dress, chucked some red lipstick on and took the wig off. The final one is their mum Kris Jenner – I put the wig and glasses back on.

I’ve never done any acting before, but my friends would say if any of us were to be an actress then it would be me – because I’m pretty dramatic.

Could it be magic?…

I joked the impersonation of Gemma Collins was the start of my acting career and I want to do everything now because of TikTok – acting, singing, dancing, magic…

I just scroll through the trends on the app and pick ones which I think I can be creative with, some of them are just so random.

One of my most watched videos was my first magic trick. I’ve never been into magic before this either.

Basically, what I do is… actually, I won’t spoil the illusion! Just watch the video below…

Blowing up on TikTok

After Courtney got stick for the ‘Flip The Switch’ video, I’ve had to negotiate extra PlayStation time for him to do more TikTok videos with me.

We did the Couples Challenge, where you are asked questions like ‘who initiated the first kiss?’, ‘who is the funny one?’ and ‘who is grumpiest in the morning?’, then both point to who you think the answer is, without looking at each other. I think we did pretty well.

I also got him to do one which uses ‘bubbleheads’, where our heads are blowing up while we are singing Soulja Boy’s ‘Hey You There’. It is so funny.

The lockdown is a difficult time for everyone so it is a bonus other people think my videos are funny too and are being cheered up by them.

I am loving doing the videos and will continue to do them to stay creative until I can play tennis again. Enjoy!

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Heather Watson was talking to BBC Sport’s Jonathan Jurejko.