US Open: The Paire case and many questions
Benoit Paire became the first player in the New York City tennis bubble to test positive for the COVID-19 virus. There is great uncertainty among colleagues.
by Jörg Allmeroth
last edit: Aug 31, 2020, 12:32 pm
When Benoit Paire made his way to New York on August 18, the odd Frenchman was still in the best of circumstances. From the plane at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, the twenty-third placed a selfie wearing a mask, along with the slogan: “Heading for New York !! US Open. ”But his complicated business trip ended on Sunday evening, 24 hours before the first rallies in the Ghost Grand Slam, just as abruptly as it was painful: As the first professional in the so-called tennis bubble in the Big Apple, Paire was positive for the corona virus tested.
Even before the US American tennis association, the USTA, reported the case in a dry communique without a name, Paire had already disappeared from the publicly visible field of participants on the US Open website. According to the Corona regulations, the positive test was immediately excluded from the competition. The way home was also initially blocked for Paire: Like his coach Morgan Bourbon, he had to go into a 10-day quarantine in his New York hotel.
Paire usually travels in a large professional circle
Paire, a man who is usually not averse to partying and who mostly travels in a large professional circle, is said to have stated in a survey that he was in contact with at least 30 people in New York. The French trade journal "L'Equipe" spoke of eleven players who were even in closer contact with Paire, including the long-time top man Richard Gasquet, Adrian Mannarino, doubles player Edouard Roger-Vasselin and the prominent top woman Kristina Mladenovic. It seems almost “inevitable” that further positive tests will follow, said the coach of a South American actor on Sunday evening.
The Paire case raised several explosive questions, most notably the question of how safe the so-called “bubble” in New York actually is. In the last few days, several professionals had complained in internal WhatsApp groups that other guests were coming and going in one of the two large player hotels, so it was hardly possible to talk about a hermetically sealed area. Bus drivers and other employees of the tournament were not included in the bubble, it was a problem, even if each of these people had to strictly adhere to the hygiene rules. A comprehensive monitoring of all employees is not possible.
Is the house of cards collapsing?
The fact that the alleged eleven players from the vicinity Paires were not also quarantined and excluded from the tournament caused many in the Grand Slam train for incomprehension. Because just a week ago the organizers of the ATP Masters on the grounds of the US Open had covid-disqualified the Argentine Guido Pella and the Bolivian Hugo Dellien, so to speak, after their fitness coach had tested positive. The American professional Noah Rubin, himself involved in the double competition, suspected in a podcast article that there had been “massive pressure” on the USTA not to execute the actually inevitable Grand Slam exclusion: “The rules here are very clear. ”He was curious to see how the New York authorities would assess and communicate this development.
According to information from France, the eleven players concerned had to sign an additional document in which they committed themselves to even stricter rules of conduct - including the ban on staying in common rooms in the hotel or going to stringers in person on the US Open site. "The whole thing seems to me like a house of cards that can collapse at any moment," said a player from Eastern Europe to a TV commentator friend.
Paire, the trigger of the Grand Slam crisis, had already been eyed with suspicion during the past week. Because after arriving in New York, the 31-year-old from Avignon soon complained of physical problems. In his first and only appearance, the Masters opening game against Croatian Borna Coric, he did not win a single game and gave up when the score was 0: 6 and 0: 1 due to stomach pain. In the official statement of the USTA on the positive case it was said that the player was "asymptomatic" in terms of Corona. Paire, originally placed number 17 on the seed list in the Grand Slam tournament, was replaced by the Spaniard Marcel Granollers.