Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti was disqualified from the National Bank Open on Saturday for breaking the COVID-19 rules of the tournament.
The world No.60 is the first player to have been formally removed from the tournament for such an offence. He had been due to play in the qualifying draw. Players taking part in this year’s event are being kept in a ‘controlled environment’ due to the pandemic which means they are restricted as to where they are allowed to go. A similar concept has been used at many other events within the past year.
Tennis Canada has said they had no choice but to disqualify the 19-year-old for exiting the bubble due to their agreement with the local health authority. Officials have agreed to a series of measures in order for their events to take place in Montreal and Toronto.
“Tennis Canada and ATP can confirm that Lorenzo Musetti has been withdrawn from the National Bank Open presented by Rogers qualifying draw due to having left the COVID-19 controlled environment,” a statement reads.
“As per the letter of approval issued by the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) to the National Bank Open to run the event, any individual leaving the controlled environment is in breach of COVID-19 protocol and will be unable to re-enter and compete at the event”
The exact details of how Musetti has violated COVID-19 protocols has been revealed by his coach Simone Tartarini who spoke with Ubitennis.com via telephone. Musetti’s violation took place two days prior to him officially being removed from the tournament when he took a trip to a nearby restaurant to collect his food. That restaurant is said to be just 50 meters outside of the player bubble.
“According to the tournament we violated the protocol because we went to collect the food fifty meters from the hotel where we are staying, ” explained Tartarini. “Here the meals are all ‘packed’, from breakfast to dinner, so we booked dinner from a restaurant which is just fifty meters from the hotel. The credit card delivery did not work, so we went to collect the food with the machine they gave us, without mixing with anyone and without having contact with the outside world; when we returned, after dinner, they (officials) approached us to tell us about the violation of the protocol.”
Tartarini said both he and Musetti then had to stay in their hotel room for two days before they were informed that the Italian wouldn’t be able to compete in the tournament. It is unclear as to why there was a two-day delay to the decision.
Musetti, who will now travel to Cincinnati, was replaced in the qualifying draw by Max Purcell of Australia. Purcell lost his opening match to Emilio Gómez in three close sets.
