French tennis player Alize Cornet has claimed the players adopted an ‘undisclosed agreement’ to deliberately conceal Covid-19, saying there was an ‘epidemic’ at the French Open last month.
Shortly thereafter, the currently 37th-ranked world number one backed down and insisted her remarks were to “emphasise that the virus is now a part of our lives.”
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The 32-year-old plays at the Wimbledon Grand Slam and her comments come after stars such as Marin Cilic and Matteo Berrettini withdrew from the tournament with positive tests.
Cornet, who defeated Yulia Putintseva in straight sets to advance to the second round, believes there have been many unreported cases in recent tournaments.
“In the dressing room everyone had it and we didn’t say anything,” Cornet told L’Equipe of the French Open. “I’ve seen girls wearing masks, probably because they know it and don’t want to pass it on,” he explained.
Cornet retracted his claims just hours later, as reported by Yahoo, and said he “suspected a few cases of Covid during Roland Garros, without having any evidence.”
Wimbledon was hit hard by the Covid-19 virus on Tuesday morning after last year’s finalist Britney withdrew due to the virus outbreak.
The famous Italian, who was well-liked after his victory over the Queens, joined former runner-up Marin Cilic in a dip, further draining a tournament already lacking for the Russians and Belarusians.
“I am very sad to announce that I need to withdraw from Wimbledon due to a positive Covid-19 test result,” Berrettini, who was in the top three contenders with Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, said via Instagram.
Wimbledon is currently following UK government guidelines, which do not require players to test themselves or even self-isolate if they test positive, meaning the decision to leave the tournament was made by infected players.
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