Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert and probably the most authoritative face in the field, is open to the possibility of having sports back relatively soon (in the summer?).
Talking with Good Luck America, Fauci was asked about the opportunity of the baseball and football seasons to be resumed, and he sounded extremely optimistic about the sports to be back, but that should happen in a different way.
Dr. Fauci can’t see any issue to see the competitions back for this summer. However, they need to be played without fans, and the players need to be tested continuously.
Fauci commented: “There’s a way of doing that. Nobody comes to the stadium. Put the players in big hotels, wherever you want to play, keep them very well surveilled. You have them tested every single week and make sure they don’t wind up infecting each other or their family, and just let them play the season out.”
Why tennis can be back and the US Open
If Dr. Fauci sees the opportunity of baseball and football to be back, there is no reason to think that tennis can’t be back. There is no physical contact in tennis and the “density” in the field is definitely low (2 or 4 players maximum) especially when compared with baseball and football. Therefore, with proper measures, it is safe to assume that it’s a strong possibility to have the tennis competitions back this summer if the tournaments accept to play without fans. Probably new ways of “remote” interaction with the fans could be studied for the time being, knowing that is a temporary measure.
Talking about making tests on a weekly basis, tennis players are rather used to be continuously tested for doping. Being tested for coronavirus would be a walk in the park for them.
The US Open is still scheduled to start the 24th of August (qualifications). After Fauci’s comments, we may be lucky and have it… finger crossed.
