"Didn't get any answers" - Sam Querrey explains his escape from St Petersburg
Sam Querrey's escape from St. Petersburg after his positive COVID-19 test made waves. Now the American has explained his view of Singe.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Jan 05, 2021, 01:18 pm
Querrey had secretly left with his family after a positive corona test at the tournament in St. Petersburg and went underground, just recently he was given a rather mild penalty by the ATP. The whole thing was, however, more complicated than it was shown in public , Querrey said in an interview with Jon Wertheim from Sports Illustrated . "If you still hate me when you know what happened, that's okay too."
He traveled to St. Petersburg with his wife and his seven-month-old baby, said Querrey, and the conditions were clear from the preliminary tournaments: If players tested positive for COVID-19, they had to stay in the tournament hotel for 10 to 14 days.
He submitted his second corona test on the Sunday before the start of the tournament in St. Petersburg, which was positive. To be on the safe side, another was added, also positive. The announcement: Please stay in the room, someone will contact you. "I knew about the risk," said Querrey, "so I had no problem with it." He was then asked by the ATP: Stay in the room, order food. "We did that for two days," said Querrey. With the thought: "We will stay in quarantine for two weeks, we feel safe, we are at the tournament hotel - everything is fine."
Querrey: "We felt safe in the tournament hotel"
Two days later, in the evening, another call came from the ATP. "You are no longer wanted in the hotel," they said. Two doctors were to come, one for Querrey and his wife, one for the baby. Their task was to determine whether or not the Querreys were showing symptoms and, in the first case, refer all three to a hospital where they were to stay for two weeks. "I had it on the speaker," said Querrey, "and my wife panicked. I wasn't happy about it either, we felt safe in the tournament hotel. Now should any two doctors come?" He tried to get answers - without success. His son had just teething and had a fever anyway. "Would you possibly take him to a different hospital than us? Nobody answered that question. Nobody assured us: 'You will stay together safely.'"
It was 10 p.m., he had told the supervisor that he would not let anyone into the room at this time, the baby was asleep, they had practically no symptoms. He then spoke to his manager to contact the ATP again. "We were happy in the hotel, distanced ourselves, had no one around, had no complaints. He asked that the doctors would not come until the next morning." But I had to make a decision between 10 pm and 10 am next day. My wife was here, my baby. And I felt: Hey, I don't feel comfortable in the situation. So we decided to rent a private jet and go. "
"Done what felt right"
That was done in the early morning in order not to be seen, said Querrey. During the flight to London, he and his wife wore medical masks and did not remove them for drinking or eating. After landing, they went straight to their booked Airbnb and went into quarantine there for two weeks. "As a father and husband, I followed the human level and did what felt right. I didn't want my family to go to hospital there for at least two weeks."
When the story became public, however, it sounded like: He had Corona and ran away. They were not offered a luxury apartment, as it was called, but a normal one. And only if the doctors decided that all three were asymptomatic.
"From my point of view, we didn't endanger anyone, we had our masks on, stayed to ourselves. We did everything in our power to minimize the risk to others. And to be honest, I think we did very well . " The flight cost $ 40,000, plus the two-week rental for Airbnb, Querrey said.
He has a good relationship with the ATP, but on site the situation was such that everything was up to the local authorities. However, he would have wished that the ATP statement would have gone in that direction rather than making a decision for his family under the special circumstances. That he was sorry for what he had to do, but that we wanted to look ahead and solve such things better together in the future.
Querrey had been sentenced to a $ 20,000 suspended sentence by the ATP, which is only payable if he does something similar in the next six months. For many tennis insiders this was not enough.
The reason given by the ATP was the always impeccable behavior of Querrey, among other things.