Top seeds including Novak Djokovic overcame eerily quiet stands as a “weird,” spectator-free US Open started Monday with heightened safety protocols for some players following a positive Covid-19 test.

Several competitors were placed in what one of them described as a “bubble within a bubble” after France’s Benoit Paire was withdrawn from the men’s draw Sunday for testing positive for coronavirus.

“It was made clear that the infected player was not adhering to the health protocols that have been approved by the State of New York,” a spokesperson for the United States Tennis Association told AFP.

A person familiar with the matter said Paire had been lax about wearing a face covering.

Djokovic and top women’s seed Karolina Pliskova were among the big names to shrug off the deathly quiet at Flushing Meadows and progress to the second round of the first Grand Slam of the Covid-19 era.

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US Open, day 1 women’s roundup: Top seed Pliskova sails, Osaka battles, Gauff out in first round

Match-winning points went uncheered, ball persons wore masks, and players had to reach for their own towels in a tightly controlled environment that made for a opening day Slam unlike any other.

“The conditions are strange, we miss the fans,” said France’s Kristina Mladenovic after a 7-5, 6-2 win over American Hailey Baptiste.

Mladenovic was one of several players forced to adhere to stricter safety measures after compatriot Paire was withdrawn.

‘Fake bubble’

Several competitors including Richard Gasquet, Adrian Mannarino and Edouard Roger-Vasselin had been in contact with Paire, according to French sports publication L’Equipe, leading to doubts about their participation. But no player has been withdrawn.

It should be noted that last week Guido Pella, the Argentinian ranked 34th in the world and 93rd-ranked Bolivian Hugo Dellien were both withdrawn from the Western & Southern Open – moved this year from Cincinnati to New York to keep the players in a coronavirus quarantine “bubble” – after their fitness trainer, Juan Manuel Galvan, had tested positive.

World number one Novak Djokovic was among the players to criticise the decision after neither Pella nor Dellien tested positive after Galvan’s result.

Now, the USTA confirmed that a number of players were now being tested on a daily basis, rather than every four days.

They are now also only allowed to leave their hotel room to travel to the US National Tennis Center. Previously they had been allowed in communal areas.

“We got some bad news two days ago and since then I’ve been living in a nightmare,” said 30th seed Mladenovic.

“I wasn’t even sure if I would able to play. We’ve been in a bubble inside a bubble. So I’m very grateful that we were able to play today,” she added.

Paire, meanwhile, was preparing to leave the tournament questioning the protocols put in place in New York.

“I’m fine for now I have no symptoms .. I hesitate to tell what is really going on in this Fake Bubble,” Paire wrote on Instagram.

With AFP Inputs