What some players and coaches distrusted, feared and commented under their breath, when last Monday they took the flight specially arranged by Tennis Australia from Buenos Aires to Sydney, happened: Federico Coria, who had attended the wedding of Andrea Collarini in which there was a massive contagion of Covid-19 and also traveled to the Oceania tour in that same charter, He tested positive for coronavirus and the alarm went off.
Coria (63 in the ranking) will be tested again in the next few hours and if he tests positive again, he must remain isolated and He will not be able to be part of the national team that from this Friday will participate in the ATP Cup (he would be replaced by Facundo Bagnis). In case of not having major health complications and once the isolation period is over, Guillermo Coria’s brother would be in a position to act in the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the season, since January 17.
Apart from this sporting situation suffered by the player trained by Andrés “Gringo” Schneiter, many of the South American players, coaches and companions who shared the flight with Coria are with too much uncertainty and fear that new positive cases will emerge or that the government authorities and Tennis Australia decide to isolate those who participated in the charter that left from Ezeiza airport and arrived in Sydney (after a stopover in Santiago de Chile where, for example, Cristian Garin, the 17th in the world).
Although this last option would be aborted since the new protocols (with the complete vaccination schedules) do not contemplate such a drastic decision. Anyway, Ezeiza-Sydney charter passengers who tested negative upon arrival in Australia must take a daily antigen for the next four days, a decision made by Tennis Australia based on Coria’s positive. Before that bad news, players / coaches had to be retested in just one week. But the scene has been altered and there is a lot of annoyance over the situation.
We will have to follow the evolution of the doubles player Andrés Molteni, who also participated in Collarini’s wedding, last Monday he traveled to Sydney on the charter with his South American colleagues and is on the Argentine team for the ATP Cup.
The Argentine team of the ATP Cup is in Group D along with Georgia, Greece and Poland. The debut will be this Friday, from 20 in our country (Star +), against Georgia. The first match will be Federico Delbonis (44th) vs. Aleksandre Metreveli (571 °), followed by Diego Schwartzman (13th) vs. Nikoloz Basilashvili (22nd). Finally, the doubles match will be played, with players to be confirmed.
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“I really like Sydney. I played very good games here. Obviously the ATP Cup is very difficult because every year the best teams in the world qualify. It will be difficult, a good challenge and I think it is the best preparation for everyone who plays before the Australian Open ”, expressed Peque Schwartzman. Alejandro Fabbri, one of his coaches (the other is Juan Ignacio Chela), will have the role of captain of the national team.
The tournament will feature 16 teams in four groups and will take place at two venues in Sydney: the Ken Rosewall Arena and the Qudos Bank Arena, both in the Olympic Park.
