Goffin tests positive for COVID-19, will miss St. Petersburg

ROLAND GARROS – If losing in the first round of Roland Garros to 19-year-old Jannik Sinner and looking thoroughly despondent while doing it wasn’t enough of a blow for the likeable David Goffin, he got more bad news Wednesday.

The results of a COVID-19 test done Tuesday came back.

And they were positive.

So Goffin, who wrote on Instagram that he’s “feeling good up to now”, will have to isolate. He will miss the ATP tournament in St. Petersburg, Russia that begins next Monday.

The Belgian also wrote that “if everything goes well”, he will return for his home-country ATP Tour event in Antwerp, Belgium.

But that starts in less than two weeks.

Dropping out of St. Pete

Goffin will be the fifth player to drop out of the St. Petersburg tournament as Kei Nishikori, Kevin Anderson, Grigor Dimitrov and Pablo Carreño Busta have already sent their regrets so far.

You would expect Stefanos Tsitsipas to follow suit. Tsitsipas reached the Roland Garros semifinals with a straight-sets win over Andrey Rublev Wednesday.

That would leave Daniil Medvedev and Matteo Berrettini as the top-10 players in the draw.

Those withdrawals have allowed players like Feliciano Lopez, Alexander Bublik and Vasek Pospisil to make it straight into the main draw.

Jannik Sinner, who was eliminated by Rafael Nadal late Tuesday night (early Wednesday morning?) would be the next player to get straight in.

28 draw in Antwerp

Barring late wild cards, Goffin would be the No. 2 seed in Antwerp behind Berrettini.

And with the 28-player draw, that means four first-round byes (of which he would get one).

So, theoretically, Goffin could push his Antwerp opener all the way to Thursday. Given he’s the big home attraction, you’d think they would accommodate him.

All that, of course, assumes that he’ll have a mild case of the coronavirus, or no symptoms at all.

All fingers (and toes) crossed that he gets through it unscathed.