Nicolas Mahut once spent three days on the court within the longest match in tennis history, yet even light training for one hour proved challenging for him on Wednesday. That’s because he was returning to practice following many weeks of staying reception amid the coronavirus pandemic. The lockdown that started on March 17 in France ended Monday, releasing Mahut and other professionals gingerly back onto the court.
Mahut said the large risk is to urge injured, we played leisurely for one hour and there are already a couple of pains. For Mahut and lots of other athletes, this has been a layoff unlike the other. What’s different is that this is not even like an injury. Everyone’s had an injury and been far away from the circuit for five, six months. But this was a special feeling, he said. We weren’t on holiday far away from it for all the people that were confined and that we weren’t injured. it had been a very complex situation to affect. What also felt strange were the various new obligatory measures aimed toward preventing the spread of COVID-19 like not sitting down on a chair, using different balls than your opponent, and sliding on gloves to wipe down the internet cord with disinfectant after the session.
Mahut said hopefully we will quickly have some normal training conditions again, But you’ve got to respect the principles. We’re already lucky enough to be back playing. He hopes that he is going to be at Roland Garros, a couple of hundred meters away in western Paris. The clay-court tournament was meant to start out on May 24, and then got postponed to Sept. 20 due to the virus. My optimistic side tells me that we’ll play at Roland Garros. But my more realistic side tells me it might be a really complicated season with no play in the least.
There are myriad opinions on when tennis can resume, even without fans. What’s needless to say is that we will not start playing again if there is a risk of contamination. He’s helping ease French tennis players back to training, with Mahut and Barrere expected to be tested shortly for the virus. But Montalvan thinks tennis may need to await a vaccine before fully returning to normal. I cannot say when the vaccine is going to be ready, probably not for an extended time. We’ll see what the directives are, but I imagine tennis will resume before a vaccine is validated.
