US Open: "Sascha Zverev saved the tournament"
The chaos in the New York "bubble" is never ending, and politics is now getting involved: In the confusing mess around player exclusions, Alexander Zverev averted greater damage from the US Open with patience and fairness.
by SID
last edit: Sep 06, 2020, 12:55 pm
For Boris Becker, the case was clear: The fact that the US Open got off halfway lightly in its wild corona chaos (so far) was also thanks to the German top player Alexander Zverev. "You can almost go so far," said the tennis icon at Eurosport, "that Sascha Zverev saved the tournament." And Germany’s women's tennis boss Barbara Rittner immediately agreed with Becker. Zverev had "prevented a scandal" through patience and sportsmanship, "she said," I think the whole tournament could have been canceled. "
The intransparent and inconsistent security measures in the supposed New York tennis "bubble" are the constant excitement of the US Open anyway , but at the weekend the events overturned - because suddenly politics also played along.
The Frenchman Adrian Mannarino should suddenly be taken out of the tournament before his third round match against Zverev due to new quarantine regulations, the Hamburg-based driver thought he was already in the round of 16 without a fight. Then Mannarino received a special permit and Zverev agreed to play after all, about three hours late. And as if this weren't already chaotic enough, the top seeded women's double Timea Babos / Kristina Mladenovic (Hungary / France) was deleted from the tournament on Saturday. This time without exception.
Everything goes back to the positive corona test by Frenchman Benoit Paire before the start of the tournament. Initially, the city of New York imposed a strict special quarantine on his contacts, including Mannarino and Mladenovic, but the group of up to eleven professionals were still allowed to play games and trainings on the facility after signing an additional protocol. At least until the federal authorities vetoed Mannarino's third round match on Friday.
Mannarino was apparently already on the system - Mladenovic was not
Mannarino's luck must have been that he was already on the tournament grounds to prepare. After hectic negotiations with the health authorities, the US tennis association USTA managed to get the French player to play - and prevented a complete farce. Also because Zverev showed great fairness.
"I could also have said, 'No, we're playing at the time we should have played. If he's not on the pitch, that's his bad luck.' But I had to support him and give him the time, "said Zverev, who then moved into the second round on the court. Previously, world number one Novak Djokovic had even tried to call New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to submit a pardon for Mannarino.