Two unidentified players that had been in close contact with a person who tested positive for COVID-19 have been dropped from this week's ATP and WTA Western and Southern Open and sent into quarantine. GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File/Andrew H. Walker
Tournament officials announced the move Wednesday, a day after learning that a non-player within the controlled environment had tested positive for the deadly virus.
The person who tested positive is in isolation for 10 days but contract tracing showed two players, neither of whom was identified, had been in “close and prolonged contact” with the individual.
The players have not experienced any COVID-19 symptoms but after input from the US Open medical team and in consultation with the New York City Department of Health, they were removed from the Western and Southern Open and sent into quarantine.
The tournament, usually in Cincinnati, was moved to New York this year to serve as a tuneup for the US Open, which starts August 31 without spectators in a bubble setup at the National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows.
Women’s main draw play in the Western and Southern Open is set to begin Friday with men’s matches to start Saturday.
The COVID-19 outbreak that had shut down the ATP and WTA season caused a temporary hospital to be established on the tennis center grounds in April as New York battled a spike in cases.
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