NEW YORK – In its effort to bring back Grand Slam tennis safely from its seven-month, virus-induced hiatus, the U.S. Tennis Association (USTA) …
NEW YORK – In its effort to bring back Grand Slam tennis safely from its seven-month, virus-induced hiatus, the U. S. Tennis Association (USTA) has adopted strict testing and behavioral protocols that run almost the length of the runways at nearby LaGuardia Airport. Everything was going splendidly until Sunday morning, the day before America’s biggest tennis tournament was set to begin, when Benoit Paire, a 31-year-old Frenchman, became the first player to test positive, according to a tournament official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter. Paire, the No.17 seed, was scheduled to begin his Open on Tuesday against Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak. He will be replaced in the draw by Spain’s Marcel Granollers. His result was only the second positive in over 7,000 tests that began being administered on Aug.15; a non-player had a positive result several days after testing began. Paire played in a tuneup tournament in Flushing Meadows, the Western & Southern Open, last week, but did not appear well and retired after losing seven straight games. Tournament officials were conducting contact tracing to determine whether any other players were in close proximity to Paire. The French newspaper L’Equipe reported that Paire’s countrymen – Richard Gasquet, Adrian Mannarino, Gregoire Barrere and Edouard Roger-Vasselin – were asked to self-isolate in their hotel rooms after Paire’s positive test. The news was a jarring development for the USTA, which is staging the Open without fans in a modified bubble that essentially keeps players and coaches in a controlled environment for the duration of the tournament. After COVID-19 forced the postponement of the French Open and the cancellation of Wimbledon, Open organizers moved ahead cautiously, working for months on elaborate health and safety regulations and procedures that had to be approved by the New York State Department of Health. Asked if he were surprised at Paire’s test result, Austria’s Dominic Thiem, the No.2 seed, said, «There’s so many people involved in this tournament. The possibility that somebody is going to be positive is pretty high. I just wish all the best to Benoit. Hopefully nobody else is positive, as well.» Thiem said he was completely comfortable with the protocols in place.
