Tennis: All Purpose Tennis Thread XIII

[spintheblackcircle]

I expect many lawsuits

 

[Shrimper]

What a muppet.

 

[John Price]

 

[discostu]

I think this was the likeliest outcome. He was in contact with all others infected. My worry is how widely spread was this among the fans in attendance,who don't have as easy access to testing.

Djokovic is on the players council,and will be interesting to see what positions he takes on player safety going forward. The irony is, that as he's now been infected, he's likely immune,and may have less personal reasons to prioritize the health and safety concerns, but, he's now also the face of the most ill thought out sports tournament during COVID,so he probably shouldn't be leading the charge on anything if he's smart. Based on his actions to date, it's hard to know if he's learned any lessons.

 

[BMOK33]

I think this was the likeliest outcome. He was in contact with all others infected. My worry is how widely spread was this among the fans in attendance,who don't have as easy access to testing.

Djokovic is on the players council,and will be interesting to see what positions he takes on player safety going forward. The irony is, that as he's now been infected, he's likely immune,and may have less personal reasons to prioritize the health and safety concerns, but, he's now also the face of the most ill thought out sports tournament during COVID,so he probably shouldn't be leading the charge on anything if he's smart. Based on his actions to date, it's hard to know if he's learned any lessons.

He's certainly immune for the US/French. Whether he still would be in January who knows. I was not aware about him being out at bars etc.

 

[BMOK33]

Disappointing to hear this news, but not the least bit surprised given how this virus is transmitted.

I love tennis as much as anyone, but this sport should not think about returning without 1) mass testing of all personnel involved 2) proper physical distancing measures and 3) sufficient personal protective equipment where physical distance is not possible. Tennis is a wonderfully physically distanced sport (I played with a friend just last week), but ensuring these measures are in place and ensuring compliance will be extremely difficult.

I almost think tennis is easier to keep players safe than golf is. You don't have a caddy with you and you are not walking in pairs/groups at any time. I just think they need to implement the measures the PGA did

 

[MsMeow]

I think this was the likeliest outcome. He was in contact with all others infected. My worry is how widely spread was this among the fans in attendance,who don't have as easy access to testing.

Djokovic is on the players council,and will be interesting to see what positions he takes on player safety going forward. The irony is, that as he's now been infected, he's likely immune,and may have less personal reasons to prioritize the health and safety concerns, but, he's now also the face of the most ill thought out sports tournament during COVID,so he probably shouldn't be leading the charge on anything if he's smart. Based on his actions to date, it's hard to know if he's learned any lessons.

I don't think he has any common sense. I also had the same thoughts that he will be immune although they still don't know if the immunity is for life or for a short period of time. I just can't believe that these people thought it was ok to have a tourney in 2 countries with wall to wall people. Every single one of them from Djokovic right on down to the fans are to blame. It will be interesting to see how many people end up getting infected because of how far this will spread. Two countries, players from various places, fans from various places taking it back with them.

 

[MsMeow]

He's certainly immune for the US/French. Whether he still would be in January who knows. I was not aware about him being out at bars etc.

Scroll down

Novak Djokovic Tests Positive For COVID-19 After Shirtless Party

 

[BMOK33]

I don't think he has any common sense. I also had the same thoughts that he will be immune although they still don't know if the immunity is for life or for a short period of time. I just can't believe that these people thought it was ok to have a tourney in 2 countries with wall to wall people. Every single one of them from Djokovic right on down to the fans are to blame. It will be interesting to see how many people end up getting infected because of how far this will spread. Two countries, players from various places, fans from various places taking it back with them.

Immunity is probably 12-18 months. Genetic makeup of the virus is close to SARS and MERS which had immunity of 2 yrs 2 months and 2 yrs 10 months. Its a less virulent virus which means the immunity is shorter. I would be surprised if its under 1 year.

 

[alg363636]

This is very frustrating because of all the sports, Tennis should be the most capable of resuming in this COVID situation. The tournament going on in Nice right now is handling it pretty well - no fans, just one ballboy, the ump and each player has a small box (I saw 2-3 per box the other night). Players tapped rackets at the end.

But to achieve this, you need the players to buy in and when you've got the world number 1 acting like a complete idiot, this is what happens.

Hopefully this is a wake up call for him, but unfortunately I worry he will say his experience with the virus wasn't that bad and now that he theoretically has immunity will go about his merry ways.

Fortunately a lot of players have spoken out against him or have made it clear how seriously they are taking this virus - Murray, Kyrgios, Rafa to name a few. So I'm hopeful they can make this work and if everyone acts like a responsible adult I think it will.

 

[BMOK33]

He also has celiac disease which is an autoimmiune disorder. You'd think that makes him higher risk right there too.

 

[Fighter]

It's the prototype of the "I told you so" moment.
Covid wasn't and isn't a joke.
I hope Zverev and Thiem weren't infected at least...

 

[discostu]

So I'm hopeful they can make this work and if everyone acts like a responsible adult I think it will.

This is what worries me, as I don't have faith in this based on what we've seen so far.

Players that participated in this tournament certainly didn't act responsible. Plus, each of the majors were all making decisions independent of each other.

As long as each stakeholder is making decisions based on their own self interest, bad decisions for the overall sport will result.

 

[discostu]

2020 is a helluva year. I'm becoming a Kyrgios fan

 

[alg363636]

I hope Zverev and Thiem weren't infected at least...

Both have tested negative. Especially good for Thiem as he is in the Nice tournament now.

This is what worries me, as I don't have faith in this based on what we've seen so far.

Players that participated in this tournament certainly didn't act responsible. Plus, each of the majors were all making decisions independent of each other.

As long as each stakeholder is making decisions based on their own self interest, bad decisions for the overall sport will result.

I'm interested to see how the Nice, Charleston and British tournament turn out. All of these are planning to have social distancing conditions. In Charleston all players need to wear masks when they are not training or on the court. As far as I've heard all players involved have agreed to these conditions.

Part of the problem with Adria was Djokovic was the sponsor of the tournament so there were no rules whereas in Charleston the tournament director has clearly laid out conditions. While you can't force players to stay in their hotel rooms, I think the general atmosphere of the tournament will encourage players to abide by the safety protocols. Plus, theoretically, if social distancing is properly maintained a player contracting the virus won't lead to a spread throughout the tournament. In Djokovic's tournament they were all hugging, dancing together, partying etc so once one of them got it, it was bound to spread.

All this optimism aside, you're right that people are selfish and a couple jackasses could ruin all of it. If there is another tournament outbreak between now the start of the season that will probably derail the whole thing.

 

[MsMeow]

If you test negative you are only negative at that time, right? And there are failures among the tests. I wish they would just shut sports down immediately.

Oh and I also can't believe I agree with Kyrgios!

 

[Beau Knows]

2020 is a helluva year. I'm becoming a Kyrgios fan

I always thought Kyrgios was pretty harmless and entertaining to watch.

I think there's a place for guys like him in sports. Smashing racquets, tanking games, making some controversial statements - none of those things are gonna hurt anybody. It's not like hockey where the antagonists are like Matt Cooke and are ending peoples careers, he's just a bit of a clown, I like having him in the game.

 

[MsMeow]

I always thought Kyrgios was pretty harmless and entertaining to watch.

I think there's a place for guys like him in sports. Smashing racquets, tanking games, making some controversial statements - none of those things are gonna hurt anybody. It's not like hockey where the antagonists are like Matt Cooke and are ending peoples careers, he's just a bit of a clown, I like having him in the game.

I don't care if he smashes racquets but I have a huge problem with tanking games.

 

[Beau Knows]

I don't care if he smashes racquets but I have a huge problem with tanking games.

Fair enough. It doesn't bother me personally.

Also I think there's some psychological issues going on with him. When things get tough he often start hitting trick shots and he makes it clear that he's not even trying. It seems to me like he has some issue with losing, like he has to do it on his own terms rather than being beaten. Not an excuse, just why I think he does it. It's a shame though, he's squandered his talent.

 

[Novak Djokovic]

Nick is still an idiot, what Novak and others did doesn't lessen his idiotic past behavior.

 

[kihei]

Djokovic has also tested positive according to many twitter sources, as has his wife.

This is like some awful Hollywood script at this point.

 

[MXD]

Kyrgios? I came to really like him to be honest if we disregard the whole "tanking" thing.

 

[kihei]

Nick is still an idiot, what Novak and others did doesn't lessen his idiotic past behavior.

No, but "boneheaded" is as good a one word description as any I can think of. So, credit where credit is due from me.

 

[NJDevs26]

I know Djokovic has been hinting at possibly not attending, but I can't see that actually happening.

Federer is out and Nadal will probably skip the US Open to focus on the French, leaving it wide open for Djokovic. I don't think he'll be able to pass up that opportunity.

Part of me is tempted to put a few bucks on John Isner to win the Open this year for the lolz, and because a lot of the European players will probably pass either because of travel expediency or the risk factor. The French didn't do the US Open or tennis any favors by dive-bombing to late September.

You make a good point in theory that people should just cede the French to Nadal including Joker but top athletes don't think that way. Maybe Joker doesn't want an asterisk by one of his majors if he does finish with one more than Fed and/or Nadal. Beating Nadal and most of the European pros at the French would be seen as legit, beating Isner, a ton of other North Americans and a few overseas stragglers to win the US Open less so.

 

[Elvis P]

"On This Date: The longest match in Wimbledon history

On June 24, 2010, Nicolas Mahut and John Isner began an epic battle of 11 hours, 5 minutes over the span of three days, before Isner eventually topped Mahut." ESPN: Serving sports fans. Anytime. Anywhere. I can't remember, but Isner probably lost his next match.