It’s the end of the US Open for Kristina Mladenovic. The Frenchwoman and her doubles partner, the Hungarian Timea Babos, were disqualified from the women’s doubles draw by decision of local health authorities, the American Federation (USTA) announced on Saturday (September 5).
This decision is based on the fact that Kristina Mladenovic is one of the players who rubbed shoulders with Benoît Paire, tested positive for Covid-19 and excluded from the tournament a week ago. It must, as such, “Stay in quarantine, in your room”, specifies the instance in a press release. The Frenchwoman was the last player still in the running to have been in contact with Benoît Paire.
“As players reside in Nassau County, quarantine notices prevent these people from going to the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York”, underlines the USTA, specifying that it is required to comply with guidelines at the level of New York State, New York City and Nassau County.
“Anyone identified as having been in prolonged close contact with the infected player will be quarantined in their rooms for the remainder of their quarantine period. Kristina Mladenovic is one of those people, and as the women’s doubles competition began, the pair [qu’elle compose] with Timea Babos was disqualified from the US Open », concludes the press release.
Everyone else got to play at least one game
After her elimination in singles in the second round on Wednesday, Kristina Mladenovic was extremely virulent towards the ultra-restrictive health measures that were imposed on Paire’s seven contact cases, none of which has ever tested positive for coronavirus. , considering herself treated as a “Prisoner” or a “Criminal”.
These players were able to participate in the US Open after signing a new, more restrictive health protocol with New York City. Strangely, the Nassau County health authorities had no complaints until Friday and everyone had been able to play at least one game.
The decision to exclude Kristina Mladenovic, resulting from a similar situation, is therefore not at all the same as for the men’s singles match between Adrian Mannarino and Alexander Zverev, which took place the day before. Mannarino, who was also in close contact with Benoît Paire, was able to play his third round, lost to the German. The USTA had finally received the green light from the authorities after tough negotiations, which delayed the meeting by almost three hours.
