NEW YORK – When the US Open began in the middle of the pandemic on Monday, seven players were placed in what one of them described as a “bubble bubble” because they were in contact with Benoit Paire, the Frenchman left the tournament.after testing positive for coronavirus, the Associated Press told a user familiar with the scenario.
The seven players were not known to the AP through the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the American Tennis Association did not disclose the names of those involved.
But two French players have expressed their involvement: Kristina Mladenovic, seeded in women’s singles, and Edouard Roger-Vasselin, inscribed in men’s doubles.
“We checked the number or call of the players due to the fitness laws,” said tourcallnt director Stacey Allaster.”In the case of Edouard Roger-Vasselin, as he stated publicly, is one of the many players decided on the forward protocol.plan, I can verify that he is one of the players.
Mladenovic admitted after his first-round victory on the first day of the Grand Slam tournament that his moves were limited because he spent time with Paire.She said she had been with Paire for about an hour and had spent 30 to 40 minutes playing cards with him and others in the lobby of a hotel used through the USTA for what she called a “controlled environment.”
“I’m in a new ‘bubble bubble’, so I’m not allowed to do much, which makes it difficult for me to compete and be mentally a little new and ready,” said Mladenovic, who doubled and let go.A strong howl after beating Hailey Baptiste of the United States 7-5, 6-2.
When asked to describe what he could and could do, Mladenovic laughed.
“Let’s keep it simple: I’m allowed to play my game,” he said. “Literally, I am allowed to do anything else.”
Allaster said players potentially exposed to the virus due to contact with Paire will now have to be evaluated daily to detect COVID-19, rather than every 4 days.
Mladenovic said he told him that he could spend time with his brother still “with no one else” and that he was banned from education in the gym and “in all the other facilities that were set up for the players.”
“It’s quite hard for me to settle for that … because it’s not like I’m part of Paire’s entourage,” Mladenovic said.
Paire is one of the other two people who have tested positive so far and is the only player.The other is a physical preparer; two players he was in contact with, Argentine Guido Pella and Bolivian Hugo Dellien, were sent from the Western and South Open, a tournament that preceded the US Open at the same site.
As for the difference between those two players who have potentially been exposed to being removed from the box and this new organization that is still eligible to play, Allaster said, “Each case is decided through the facts and circumstances.We won’t talk about how the two differ in particular, because it’s protected aptitude information.”
Mladenovic’s new limitations were difficult for her to handle, she said, and a reminder, as if there weren’t so many others, of the difficult situations to look at to host a first foreign sporting occasion in those days. The US Open will look like this: usually empty courts, quiet, with no enthusiasts and only a handful of other people present.
There are only two online courts of judges; others depend on a chair judge and electronic calls.Everyone should wear a mask unless they’re playing.Players have to walk to get their own towels instead of passing them through ball players.
There were another 15 people in the seats at Louis Armstrong Stadium 14,000 seats for the start of the 2016 US Open champion Angelique Kerber’s 6-4, 6-4 victory over Ajla Tomljanovic.
When Kerber broke up to win the first game, one, his coach, clapped.
“It’s kind of a feeling when you play, like practice matches,” Kerber said.
There were seven other people in the stands of Court 11, six after he came one in the middle of the seventh game, for Borna Coric’s 7-5, 6-3, 6-1 victory over Pablo Andujar, whose complaint to presidential referee Fergus Murphy.over the control of the softly audible service clock.
Andujar: “In my opinion, it’s too fast …can you give me a little more (time)?”
Murphy: “No”
Andujar: “No?”
And aside from the fake noises of the crowd and loud music changes, there was almost no sound at the cavernous Arthur Ashe Stadium for her first attack of the 2020 tournament, 6-4 by Karolina Pliskova, seeded No.1, Victory 6-0 over Anhelina Kalinina.
Pliskova says: “I say to myself, “Should I cheer myself up?”
Two leaders came here in the afternoon.
No. 18 Dusan Lajovic to Egor Gerasimov 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
No.9 Diego Schwartzman was hampered through cramps, lost a big lead and was beaten through Cameron Norrie 3-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, 7-5, then went out without a jersey to watch a fit in Ashe – all ranked players won a dear suite to use as a non-public lounge.
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