NEW YORK -- French tennis player Benoit Paire tested positive for the coronavirus and was removed from the U.S. Open field.
Paire is the first player to test positive ahead of the Grand Slam tournament, which begins Monday without spectators amid the pandemic.
The USTA issued a statement saying a player -- whom it initially did not identify by name -- "has been withdrawn" from the U.S. Open after testing positive for COVID-19. The statement said the player is asymptomatic.
The 31-year-old Paire was seeded 17th and was supposed to face Kamil Majchrzak of Poland in the first round on Tuesday. Paire's spot in the draw was filled by 149th-ranked Marcel Granollers, who now plays Majchrzak.
Contact tracing will try to determine who might have been exposed to Paire and needs to be quarantined.
30th-seeded Kristina Mladenovic, who had practiced and spent half an hour socially with Paire, said she was told to quarantine.
"Literally I am allowed to do nothing but play my matches," she said Saturday. "I don't know how we are gonna keep going, not allowed to do fitness, not being in the public bubble thing. ...I am completely on my own with my brother/coach, bubble in a bubble. I cannot see anyone else, I am not allowed to use other facilities or be face to face with players. Mentally, very tough."
The USTA confirmed that Adrian Mannarino and doubles specialist Eduard Roger Vasselin have also been subject to these enhanced quarantine protocols.
Paire's result was the second that came back positive out of more than 7,000 tests for COVID-19 administered by the USTA so far as part of its "cont rolled environment" for the U.S. Open and the Western & Southern Open.
That other tournament, which ended Saturday, is normally held in Ohio but was moved to the U.S. Open's site in Flushing Meadows this year.
On Aug. 20, the USTA announced one positive test but did not identify whose it was, saying only it was not from a player. Eventually, two players -- Argentina's Guido Pella and Bolivia's Hugo Dellien -- said it was their fitness trainer who had tested positive for COVID-19 and that is why they were dropped from the Western & Southern Open.
Paire stopped playing his opening match in the Western & Southern Open on Aug. 22 while trailing 6-1, 1-0 against Borna Coric.
Paire is ranked 22nd, owns three ATP titles and reached the fourth round of the U.S. Open in 2015, equaling his best showing at any Grand Slam tournament.
He lost in the second round in New York last year.
ESPN's Peter Bodo contributed to this report.