Djokovic wants to speak to the governor: More and more fuss about the tennis bubble at the US Open
Chaos in the New York tennis bubble: The inconsistent and non-transparent handling of corona cases and contact persons is upsetting more and more players.
by SID
last edit: Sep 05, 2020, 10:06 am
Novak Djokovic actually wanted to focus fully on his match against Jan-Lennard Struff, but the corona chaos in the New York tennis bubble startled the superstar. He had also noticed that the authorities did not want the French Adrian Mannarino to play in his third-round game against Alexander Zverev. Action had to be taken - so Djokovic picked up the phone.
"I wanted to reach the governor of New York through a few contacts," said the world number one after reaching the round of 16 against Struff. Djokovic did not get as far as Andrew Cuomo with his pardon - but it shows how serious the situation is at the US Open.
The tournament was damaged by the chaos on Friday, even if Mannarino was allowed to start the match after a long "back and forth", as Zverev called it, around three hours late. It was only through hectic negotiations with the health authorities that the US tennis association USTA was able to prevent the Grand Slam tournament from degenerating into a farce due to the non-transparent and inconsistent security measures.
Zverev on Mannarino: "In a way, also played for freedom"
Mannarino is one of a group of up to eleven professionals who had close contact with Frenchman Benoit Paire , who tested positive for the corona virus before the tournament started , and who had to go into special quarantine. However, Mannarino emphasized, the affected players were assured on Sunday that they could leave their hotel rooms for training and matches. Until five days later the political decision-makers changed their mind.
"I didn't know the situation could change like this," said the astonished Mannarino. Only a few hours before the scheduled start of the game did he find out "that we are only allowed to be in our room until the rest of the quarantine". And the story is far from over for the 32-year-old despite his departure from Zverev. Mannarino reported that he was not allowed to leave New York until next Friday. His coach would have to stay in his hotel room for another day.
For Mannarino, the match against the German number one was about more than just the round of 16. "That was the last time he was allowed to leave his hotel room for a long time," said Zverev: "In a way, he also played for his freedom."
Confusion about test result at Paire
After the violent criticism of the Belgian Kirsten Flipkens and the French Kristina Mladenovic ("a nightmare"), who as contact persons for Paires are also only allowed to leave the USA towards the end of the coming week, the Mannarino case raised further questions. "Why wasn't he allowed to play now? He also played the first and second rounds, and you already knew that Paire was positive," said Zverev, and Struff also thought it was "funny".
Djokovic went even further. It cannot be ruled out, said the 17-time major winner, that Paire could have had an incorrect test result. "That needs to be addressed," said Djokovic. Paire had announced on Instagram that he had tested negative again two days after the positive test - as he did several times after his arrival in New York.
And Djokovic also criticized the fact that in the previous week at the preparatory tournament at the same place, the Argentine Guido Pella and the Bolivian Hugo Dellien as contact persons of their fitness trainer, who tested positive, had been excluded from the tournament. "A lot of inconsistency," said the Serb. He is not alone in this.