Masks, fans, ball children - exhibition fights in the time of Corona
In times like these it is worth taking a look across borders: In Germany, the corona regulations are interpreted differently than in Austria or Spain.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Jun 10, 2020, 04:53 pm
Other countries other manners. Yes, in Germany even: other federal states, different customs. It has seldom been possible to determine this in as much detail as it is right now. If the inclined tennis fan looks towards Spain, for example, where a small invitation tournament with players like Alex de Minaur and Pablo Andujar is taking place near Valencia, then it is important to note: Yes, the chair umpire is wearing a mask. But what are these for small people who take care of the balls nimble? Ball kids about? Exactly. However, they only do their very own job, collecting the balls. The players are responsible for the towels.
The generous camera setting also allows a look at the next seat: in addition to a cameraman, there are also three replacement ball children - plus a few people whose activities cannot be exactly determined. No spectators were spotted.
No fans in Großhesselohe
And so on to Neuss in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Since yesterday there have actually been people in the stands who have only one thing in mind: interested in watching tennis-playing professionals. It will be the same from Thursday in Troisdorf (also North Rhine-Westphalia) and Überlingen (Baden-Württemberg). But not at the TC Großhesselohe, where since Tuesday, due to the Bavarian Corona regulations, only the coaches of the respective players are allowed to be present along with a few accredited journalists.
After all: In Großhesselohe, the players' benches are placed as usual directly on the referee's chair. Not so in Neuss: an athlete can take his place next to the umpire, the second bench was placed in a corner far behind the baseline. There are no empirical values for Troisdorf and Überlingen in this regard - these two locations won't start until tomorrow.
What is Novak Djokovic doing in Belgrade?
The classic arrangement for Corona times, on the other hand, can be found in the Bundesleitungszentrum Südstadt, where the Austrian professionals started far ahead of everyone else: no spectators, no ball children, but also no masks for the chair umpire (as in Germany, by the way, not either).
It will be interesting to see what the situation will look like this weekend: Novak Djokovic asked to kick off his Adriatic tour to Belgrade (Alexander Zverev, Dominic Thiem and Grigor Dimitrov accepted this invitation). Football matches with several thousand fans were held in Serbie last weekend. Patrick Mouratoglou's “Ultimate Tennis Showdown” also starts near Nice. With a completely new format. And probably without fans, ball kids and masks. But what do you know these days.