Leading up to the US Open Bruno Soares wasn’t just dealing with returning to the Tour following its five-month break due to the pandemic, he was also recovering from the Coronavirus.
The Brazilian tennis star has shed light on his experience with the virus moments after lifting the US Open doubles title with Croatia’s Mate Pavic on Saturday. In the final the duo dismissed Wesley Koolhof of the Netherlands and Nikola Mektic of Croatia 7-5, 6-3. Soares admit that it was a bit of luck that he managed to test negative in time for the New York bubble. This year’s Western and Southern Open were also moved to the same venue as the US Open due to the pandemic.
“I was coming from some tough 15 days of having Corona, so I didn’t get much practice before coming here. I wasted my practice for 15 days,” he told reporters in New York.
“So it was good that we could put a lot of work before the slam. Pretty special to have this trophy with us now.”
Few knew the world No.27 doubles star had been suffering from COVID-19 until his casual announcement. Fortunately for Soares his symptoms were very mild with a blocked nose and feeling weak. According to the country’s health ministry, Brazil has recorded more than 4.2 million cases of COVID-19 with over 120,000 deaths. Another Brazilian player, Thiago Seyboth Wild, tested positive for the virus back in March.
“I didn’t post it or anything. I kept to myself. It was all right,”Soares explains.
“I had a blocked nose one day when I was back in Belo Horizonte, and I was feeling a little bit weak, decided to get tested.’
“I tested positive, isolated myself 14, 15 days isolated. Nothing, no symptoms.”
38-year-old Soares says the hardest part of his experience was the inability to train during the quarantine process. Returning to action at the Western and Southern Open, he admits that he experienced breathing issues during his first round loss. The tournament took place just a week before the New York major.
“The one thing that was tough is 14 days without doing anything and then you just come straight here (to New York),” he said.
“So it took me a while — even though I felt I played a decent match in Cincy, but toward the second set I started feeling like it was tough to breathe and things like this.’
“But I was just very happy, to be honest, to be playing here.”
Soares is now a three-time Grand Slam champion in the men’s Doubles after also previously winning the US Open, as well as the Australian Open, back in 2016 with former partner Jamie Murray.
