NEW YORK -- The USTA confirmed that three players competing at the US Open have entered "enhanced protocols" due to having been in close contact with French player Benoit Paire, who was removed from the men's singles draw Sunday after having tested positive for the coronavirus.
Veteran singles competitors Kristina Mladenovic and Adrian Mannarino and French doubles player Édouard Roger-Vasselin have all tested negative, and they have been allowed to continue to practice and compete, but under much stricter regulations than their peers.
"I don't know how we're going to keep going," Mladenovic said after she won her first-round singles match at the National Tennis Center on Monday. "We're not allowed to do fitness. There's no public bubble for us. I am completely on my own with just my brother (who is also her coach this week).
"It's a bubble in a bubble."
The US Open is being held in a controlled environment due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Mladenovic said she and the others cannot see other players "face to face" and are prohibited from using facilities at the NTC or the bio-secure player hotel.
"I still have to find a way to discuss with the USTA how we can organize things so that I can at least compete, and have [access to] my equipment to at least keep working," she said.
Before the combined Western & Southern Open and US Open began here on Aug. 20, the players all had to sign an agreement outlining their obligation to observe health protocols and the consequences of testing positive or failing to meet the stringent standards.
When trainer Juan Manuel Galvan tested positive for COVID-19, the two players he was traveling with and working with, Guido Pella and Hugo Dellien, were removed from the W&S draw as the rules mandated -- even though neither player tested positive.
Pella and Dellien have quarantined for 14 days, tested negative and are free to compete in the US Open.
The initial rule calling for players who had been in close contact with infected individuals to also be removed from the tournament was revised with guidance from New York City health officials, US Open tournament director Stacey Allaster told ESPN on Monday. The revision introduced a stricter regimen for the three French players, but also allowed them to continue in the US Open.
The revised rules dictate that those in enhanced protocols must stay in their hotel rooms and not accept any visitors when not traveling to or competing at the US Open. They must place their sheets and towels outside the hotel door for cleaning, and they are prohibited access to all common areas, including on-site or hotel restaurants. Meals must be delivered to their doors.
If they want to do fitness training, they have to do it by appointment, in a separate area, and they cannot enter locker rooms.
About the only thing they can do outside of their rooms is practice and play matches -- and even then, they must wait in their rooms until a prearranged time for tournament transportation to the NTC.
Mladenovic said she had a one-hour practice session with Paire last week -- on opposite sides of the net -- and was exposed to him for only "35 or 40 minutes" in the hotel, some of it spent playing cards with Paire and others.
Like Mannarino and Roger-Vasselin, Mladenovic was informed Saturday evening that she had been traced to Paire. None of the French players knew whether they would be allowed to compete in the Open.
"Sunday morning, we didn't know anything yet," Mannarino told the French sports daily L'Equipe after winning his first match here. "We all slept very badly, but we all supported each other. We knew at noon that we could play, but that there would be a new protocol for us 'players at risk.' The new conditions are necessarily quite strict, but it's important that we are safe, and the other players too. I don't want to make anyone take risks."
Added Mladenovic, who has since tested negative on two occasions: "It's pretty tough for me to accept that thing, because I am not part of his (Paire's) entourage. But I feel sorry and bad for him for testing positive."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.