Benoit Paire - "It's no fun"
Contrasts in the times of the coronavirus pandemic: While Angelique Kerber posed with a casual smile on Instagram on the stairs of her private jet to Paris, professional colleague Benoit Paire sat like a pile of misery in the catacombs of the tennis stadium at Hamburg's Rothenbaum.
by SID
last edit: Sep 23, 2020, 03:07 pm
Worn down by three tests within five days with different results and, according to his own assessment, overtired, the Frenchman declared his spontaneous exit from the traditional tournament. "I don't understand any more, it's no fun," said the 31-year-old after letting his opponent Casper Ruud from Norway win with a score of 4: 6 and 0: 2.
The lightness of past years with large tennis festivals in Melbourne, Paris, London and New York has been lost to the traveling circus in the pandemic - "the case pair" was already symbolic of this at the US Open. When tested positive, it was withdrawn from the tournament, other players were affected, and the confusion affected organizers, players and television viewers. A few days before the first serve at the French Open, Paire is once again the focus.
Schwartzman straight to Paris
The 31-year-old had tested positive (not infectious) twice and negative on Tuesday in the Hanseatic city. This uncertainty visibly wore down Paire, but he still wants to play in Paris if the required corona tests are negative. Even waiting for the result can be torture, as the Argentine Diego Schwartzman reports.
"The first test is the worst before the tournament. You sit and wait for the result. And only when the second test is negative can you enjoy the tournament a little and hope to be able to play good tennis," said Schwartzman, who after reaching the finals in Rome, he did without the tournament in Hamburg and traveled to Paris early on.
Zverev without match practice on clay after Roland Garros
Jan-Lennard Struff, on the other hand, who failed in the Rothenbaum tournament in round one by the Russian Karen Khachanov, does not travel to Paris until Thursday - and prefers the train to the scheduled flight as a means of transport because of the risk of infection. The German number two from Warstein is also not very comfortable in his skin given the current situation.
"After the first test, we can train on the facility, then we have to do a second test 48 hours later," reported Struff. The same procedure naturally also applies to Alexander Zverev. The US Open finalist goes into the last Grand Slam tournament of the year without any match practice. Zverev was not interested in starting in his hometown, so he escaped the excitement that the tennis tour is exposed to during the corona pandemic. In Paris, however, Zverev is also back in the thick of it.