Paris
Former world number one Victoria Azarenka has questioned why the French Open is allowing spectators to attend the two-week tournament despite rising COVID-19 infection rates in France.
Speaking ahead of the tournament the 31-year-old Belarusian said she was surprised the claycourt Grand Slam was allowing 1,000 fans each day and not following the lead of the recent U.S. Open that excluded spectators throughout.
“To be honest, I’m a little bit nervous about it just because I feel like, as all players are, a little bit nervous about the health situation,” Azarenka told reporters.
“Having fans and playing in front of fans is what we prefer as players, but with these circumstances I’m a bit more nervous about that. I don’t know why we are trying something new.
“We had one Grand Slam where things worked out well, but I guess we always need to try something new for no reason.”
No fans were permitted at Flushing Meadows where Azarenka rolled back the years to reach the final, losing out to Japan’s Naomi Osaka. The French Open, postponed from its normal May/June slot to now because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, initially planned for 11,000 fans per day.
That was then dropped to 5,000 and on Thursday it was capped further to 1,000 by the French government.—AFP
