Serena Williams announces she is planning to play US Open

Serena Williams said in a video shown during the U.S. Tennis Association's U.S. Open presentation Wednesday that she is planning to play the tournament and that she "cannot wait to return" to New York for the major championship she has won six times.

The U.S. Open normally is the fourth and final Grand Slam tournament of each season.

It will be held without spectators from Aug. 31 to Sept. 13, making it be the second major of 2020, following the Australian Open, which concluded in early February.

Electronic line-calling will be used instead of line judges for matches at all courts except the two largest arenas.

There also will be three ball people instead of six at courts other than Arthur Ashe Stadium and Louis Armstrong Stadium.

There will be no mixed doubles, juniors or wheelchair competition during the tournament.

There also will not be any qualifying rounds. Men's and women's doubles will be reduced from 64 teams each to 32 and only players not in singles may enter.