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Roland Garros record winner: Rafael Nadal during training in Paris
Photo:
Martin Sidorjak / Getty Images
Tennis professionals are a particularly adaptable species.
They are used to flying through world history and dealing with ever new realities in their sport within a very short time.
The final matches of the US Open in New York, held on a fast hard court and humid and hot temperatures, were just 14 days ago.
In Paris, where the French Open has been taking place since Sunday, the conditions are almost the opposite.
It's cool and rainy, the wet red ash promises significantly slower tennis.
And the balls of a new supplier have become heavier, not only to the chagrin of Rafael Nadal, Roland Garros' twelve-time record winner.
The weather and the balls are an issue in the tennis world these days before the French Open.
Here it seems as if one can increasingly debate sporting matters again.
The tournament has a much more serious problem: the rapid increase in the number of corona cases in France.
There was a similar starting point in New York.
At the US Open, they got through the tournament fairly unscathed, even though there was some harsh criticism from players' circles about the inconsistent and non-transparent handling of the hygiene measures.
Concerns about the general hosting of the tournament died down more and more over the course of the 14 days, which was also due to the fact that New York had got the infection under control at the time of the US Open.
So now tennis in Paris.
Nothing is safer here, on the contrary.
The French capital is considered a corona hotspot and was declared a "red zone with increased alert" by Minister of Health Olivier Véran only a few days ago in terms of the risk of infection.
New regulations have been in effect since Monday.
Bars are closed from 10 p.m., fitness studios are no longer allowed to open, and meetings of more than ten people in public spaces are prohibited.
France reported 14,412 new infections with the corona virus within 24 hours on Saturday.
That is a little less than between Wednesday and Thursday last week, when there were 16,000 new cases.
It was the highest value since the introduction of large-scale tests for the Covid-19 pathogen.
Nevertheless, the current numbers are also alarming, especially when you compare them with the values at the end of March, the peak of the first wave.
At that time, the authorities counted 7,500 new infections.
Fernando Verdasco has already been excluded
Nevertheless, the first main round matches at the French Open were played on Sunday - but not in front of 20,000 spectators, as they had hoped in Paris in July.
The organizers had to reduce the number of fans on the narrow complex in the 16th arrondissement on the Bois de Boulogne in regular steps.
According to the current status, 1000 people are allowed to watch per day - this is not a ghost atmosphere like the last one in New York, but it is far from normal.
In previous editions, up to 40,000 visitors per day were counted at the French Open.
The situation is not easy for the players.
"I'm going to Paris with mixed feelings," said Kevin Anderson, the South African veteran last week on the sidelines of the Hamburg European Open to SPIEGEL.
But he also said: "I've adjusted to it and try to make the best of it."
The tennis world keeps turning.
And everyone participates.
If they are allowed to.
Fernando Verdasco is the first prominent case to be excluded from the French Open because of a positive Covid-19 test.
The Spaniard reacted with incomprehension.
The organizers had refused him a further test, wrote Verdasco on Twitter and expressed his "complete frustration and indignation".
He had "been deprived of the right to participate in this important event".
Hotel - facility - hotel: This is how everyday life will look again
At the French Open, the general conditions are similar to those of the US Open, apart from the small number of admitted spectators.
As in New York, the professionals in Paris live shielded in a bubble.
But unlike in New York, no exceptions are allowed: Novak Djokovic had rented a private house there.
There are two hotels in the immediate vicinity of the Eiffel Tower for the players.
In one the professionals live in the rankings from one to 60, in the other the rest of the field.
Hotel - facility - hotel: This is how everyday life will look again.
"Nobody likes to play under these conditions," said Nadal, "but the organizers are doing a lot to make this possible. They would lose a lot of money if everything were canceled. We have to stick together and fight for the comeback of our sport."
Icon: The mirror
