Guido Pella slams USTA for changing rules: Imagine how you feel if it happened to you

Argentine tennis player Guido Pella has come down heavily on the United States Tennis Association (USTA) over the different protocols applied to his case as compared to the protocols being applied to the players who have come in contact with French player Benoit Paire. 

Pella and Bolivia's Hugo Dellien were withdrawn from the ATP Western & Southern Open, which was held at the Flushing Meadows grounds, just prior to the US Open, after their trainer tested positive for the coronavirus. 

The two players were asked to quarantine for 14 days as they were deemed to be in close contact with their trainer during training in Miami prior to coming into the US Open bubble. 

Benoit Paire was the first player to test positive at the US Open over the weekend and was withdrawn from the event. When the USTA completed a contact tracing, seven players were found to have been in close contact with him but were allowed to continue playing in the tournament after being placed under stricter protocols - being described as 'a bubble within a bubble.'

Guido Pella says USTA did not apply same rules for players in contact with Paire

Speaking to the press after his 2-6, 6-0, 3-6, 3-6 first round loss to Jeffrey Wolf on Tuesday, Pella said he was treated unfairly by the organisers and demanded an explanation from them. 

"Imagine if you are locked down for two weeks and the Benoit case, one day after he got the second test, 11 players that were involved with close contact with Benoit was 'Okay, you will have a bubble inside of the bubble' and you'll be allowed to practice and play the US Open."

"Imagine how you feel if this happened to you. I hope that in a few months or weeks someone gives me answers about this, but I am not sure." 

The Argentine spoke about the difficult conditions during the knockdown for them and the poor conditions of the practice courts they were assigned to once their quarantine was lifted.

Guido Pella was absolutely seething in his press conference today as he described being forced to quarantine for two weeks after his physio tested positive for coronavirus (he then tested negative 5 days later). I asked about his last two weeks and his response took 4 mins: pic.twitter.com/aUuHfQzq44

— Tumaini Carayol (@tumcarayol) September 2, 2020

Several players had come out in support of Guido Pella and Hugo Dellien during the Western & Southern Open and criticised the USTA for the way the case was handled, including World No. 1 Novak Djokovic and Vasek Pospisil - who had stated that this as one of the examples where players were not communicated properly by tournament officials and why they wanted the players to get together and form an association. 

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/32S0te5