The Italian Matteo Berrettini, outgoing finalist of the London Grand Slam and one of the favorites of this 2022 edition, and the Croatian Marin Cilic gave up before even treading the English lawn, both contaminated.
“When it comes out on big players like that, it will start to set the lake on fire everywhere, and that worries me a little,” said Cornet.
“I don’t want to underestimate the Covid effect” but “there have always been withdrawals because players were sick. There are players who have gastrointestinal illnesses, the flu. There have been massacres in the past with gastros. There were two, three, four players who retired, it was just bad luck, and we had not put (in place) a protocol, she defends. The Covid is entered into mores with vaccines.”
To support his point, “at Roland-Garros, there was an epidemic of Covid, no one talked about it. In the locker room, everyone had it and we said nothing, says the N. 1 French and 37th in the world. Afterwards, I saw girls wearing masks, perhaps because they knew and did not want to pass it on. You also have to have a civic spirit.
“No psychosis”
According to a source close to the Parisian Grand Slam contacted by AFP, three cases of Covid-19 were identified during the 2022 edition. This does not exclude possible other tests carried out outside the supervision of the tournament.
Among these three cases, the outgoing champion Barbora Krejcikova is the only one to have publicly reported it.
The French Tennis Federation (FFT), organizer of Roland-Garros, reminded AFP that under current government instructions, the vaccination or health pass was no longer required and that it was ” unable to force anyone to take a test” at the time of the tournament.
However “as soon as a test is positive, the player withdraws”, she specified.
Asked about the possible return of a tighter health protocol to Wimbledon, “I hope they won’t do it, replies Cornet. Already they have taken away the points from us (by decision of the ATP and the WTA, in reaction to the exclusion of Russians and Belarusians due to the invasion of Ukraine, editor’s note). That would be the pompom.”
“There is no psychosis. We paid the price, we ate our black bread with a year of bubbles and tests. We all got vaccinated. You have to be consistent on how to do it. The Covid is part of our lives now. We’re not going to self-test to get in the shit!”, She says again.
A few hours after his press conference, Cornet clarified his comments on social networks. “I said that I suspected a few cases of Covid during Roland-Garros, without having any proof. It was above all to emphasize that the virus was now part of our lives and that we had to deal with it.”
