The Palermo Ladies Open will open the official restart of tennis after five months without competitions. Today the first matches of the qualification draw will be played and some of the best players was involved: a very awaited moment for the WTA Tour.
Home crowd players like Giulia Gatto-Monticone, Martina Trevisan, Federica Bilardo, Martina Di Giuseppe, Melania Delai, Dalila Spiteri and Matilde Paoletti, specifically, will do everything to enter the main draw of the Italian event.
As everyone knows, the Palermo WTA was able to breathe a strong sigh of relief when the voice actor Rosalie Van der Hoek tested negative for Coronavirus; remember that the Dutchman had tested positive for the serological test and had alarmed all the organizers.
A player tested positive to Covid-19: Palermo WTA in alarm
However, new updates have come both from the WTA and from the direction of the Palermo Ladies Open. After the first major obstacle passed and the tests carried out on all the players who arrived in Italy, a tennis player was in fact hit by Covid-19.
The name of the athlete who contracted the virus is still unknown, but the latter will certainly be excluded from the tournament: "We inform you that, following the protocol checks carried out (serological tests and nasopharyngeal swab), a player enrolled in the 31st Palermo Ladies Open was positive at Covid-19," said the organizers through a note published on the official website of the tournament.
"The asymptomatic player, who had carried out the examinations scheduled on her arrival in the city at the mobile clinic adjacent to the hotel hosting the tennis players, was transferred to a structure of the National Health Service used for asymptomatic patients." Prof.
Antonio Cascio, Professor of Infectious Diseases at the University of Palermo and Anti-Covid Consultant of the Tournament, kept us praising the work done by all the staff. "The effectiveness of the protocols and related controls allowed us to intercept a positive case among the players who arrived in Palermo.
The same player, waiting for the results of the exams, had always remained in her hotel room." Only some hours after we know that that player is Viktoriya Tomova, 25 years-olds and no.130 o the WTA ranking. Tomova was removed from the draw and replaced with the alternate Daniela Seguel.
Petra Martic, Marketa Vondrousova, Elise Mertens, Donna Vekic, Dayana Yastremska and Kristina Mladenovic ar ethe stars of the tournaments which we hope it will continue without any other problems after the positivity to the virus of Tomova.