PAIRE PLAYS DESPITE HIS FAILED TEST

TENNIS

BENOIT PAIRE retired during his first- round match at the Hamburg European Open when he felt ill – then said he had been allowed to play despite testing positive for Covid- 19.

The Frenchman, below, was barred from competing at the US Open after testing positive and required to quarantine.

He tested negative in Rome last week, only to test positive again in Hamburg, although his most recent test was negative again.

The tournament doctor told reporters that, under local rules, individuals are not considered infectio infectious so long as they restrict public ap appearances to the c court and isolate in between.

Paire said: “I w was positive here in Hamburg since I arri arrived. The only negative test I got yesterday. Before that, two in a row I was positive. But the rule seems different here.

“So thank you to the tournament and the doctor here in Hamburg that I can play.

“Every night I go to sleep and they tell me maybe you’re positive, maybe you’re negative, maybe you can play, maybe you can’t. The only thing I want is to finish the season and go home.”

The rules are different for the French Open, where any positive test means immediate elimination from the event.

Britain’s Dan Evans was beaten 6- 3, 6- 1 by second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in the first round in Hamburg.