Paris (AFP)

"It's eating our lives."

Variable tests and regulations, doubts about the reliability of the results: even before having the ball in the stomach on the court, players and players prepare for Roland-Garros, which begins on Sunday, in an anxiety-provoking climate.

In the midst of the resurgence of the Covid-19 pandemic, which led the organizers at the beginning of the year to reschedule the Parisian Grand Slam in the fall (September 27-October 11), this is the subject N.1 Porte d ' Auteuil, who relegated sports discussions to the background.

"Everyone is afraid of tests," admits Frenchman Enzo Couacaud, 194th player in the world, victorious Wednesday in his second round of qualifying.

With the samples taken on the day of arrival, on D + 2, then every five days, "we almost have the impression of playing a coin toss".

At Roland Garros, in the event of a positive result, the same sample is checked a second time.

The player is excluded if the positive result is confirmed.

"It's a climate which is anxiety-provoking", confirms from Strasbourg the French Alizé Cornet, who shows a "surge of adrenaline" each time she discovers her result.

"When you receive the text message with the negative test, you feel like the king of the world!"

- Sleepless nights -

Like the Bosnian Damir Dzumhur, excluded from qualifying because of the positive test of his coach Petar Popovic, who posted on social networks his negative result obtained the next day, professional players no longer hesitate to question the reliability nasopharyngeal swabs.

"False positives are something that frightens me the most, I hardly slept all night," says Cornet.

"What shocks me is that we do not have a confirmation test (...) At any time, it falls on you and we take you from a Grand Slam because there was an error. I think it can be done better. (...) It costs us so much if it falls on us ... ", deplores the Niçoise.

A fortiori when, because of the pandemic, the season has been cut off from many tournaments, drastically reducing the sporting and economic opportunities for players.

And weakening even more those classified beyond the 100th place in the world.

Since the resumption of the WTA and ATP circuits in August, their disarray has only grown as they crossed borders and discovered different health laws and protocols from one country to another.

"I was tested in a French hospital where (the PCR test) was super deep in both nostrils, I saw in the United States that we gave the rod to the player who makes the tip of the nose and who returns ( the swab to the doctor), in some places we only make one nostril, in other places we make the saliva… ", is astonished Couacaud.

- Lost pair -

The new episode of the soap opera Benoît Paire, tested positive for Covid-19 in New York at the end of August and authorized to play in Hamburg on Wednesday despite two new positive tests, will certainly not clarify matters.

"ATP will have to explain to me what the exact rules are. Because I see people in Paris who are negative but because their coach is positive, cannot play. But here in Germany, you can be positive and play ", wonders the 25th world, who abandoned Wednesday against the Norwegian Casper Ruud and said" tired ", without knowing what to attribute it.

The case of Paire will not reassure his opponents on the reliability of the tests, when we know that the Frenchman has been tested negative several times between his positive tests.

"I think it's impossible to play tennis like that. You don't sleep," he laments, even saying he's ready to "stop" if this health blur continues.

It's hard to concentrate on tennis with this sword of Damocles hanging over your head.

"If tomorrow, I am considered borderline, false positive or positive, whatever my state of mind, I will not play, apprehends Couacaud. It's terrible."

© 2020 AFP