Tennis players complain about being in quarantine

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The 2021 Australian Open has been postponed until early February more than 70 tennis players and staff they have been forced to go through an unexpected and strict two-week quarantine period.

The protocol was implemented after positive COVID-19 cases were discovered on three of the 17 charter flights in the country. Australia, one of the few countries that has controlled the coronavirus pandemic, usually requires that all travelers entering the country be quarantined for 14 days in a hotel before being allowed anywhere else in the country.

It is a strict routine that has the support of the Australian people and has minimized COVID cases in the country as they escape control elsewhere in the world. Unfortunately, for many tennis players it also means that they will now be docked indoors for a time for which they were not prepared. Although superstars like Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka have had room for maneuver as they are allowed to leave their rooms to practice for hours.

The whole situation is a mess and while most tennis players have handled it well, a few have taken their complaints to social media, cradling about food, boredom and … the impossibility of getting a stylist.

World no. 13 Roberto Bautista Agut compared being confined in his beautiful hotel room in Melbourne to being in prison.

“It’s the same, it’s the same, but with Wi-Fi,” he said during an interview. “These people have no idea about tennis, the training grounds or anything. It is a complete disaster for that, for the control of everything ”.

Others went on social media with nothing good to say about the meals they were served.

Player Yulia Putintseva had at least one unexpected partner with whom to share her time.

If we have a clear villain in the story, it’s Bernard Tomic’s quarantine partner Vanessa Sierra, who spoke at length about the difficulty of having only one bathroom and not having access to a stylist, because she never washes her hair.

According to ESPN, the world number 1, Novak Djokovic, wrote to Tennis Tennis officials with a list of “demands”, asking players to move to “private houses with tennis courts”.

There were also quarantine breaches by players.

Extensive quarantine measures are under the orders of the Australian government which only enforces long-standing rules. Doubles player Artem Sitak said Tennis Australia warned them about this same scenario.

As for how Australians see the players, it’s unsympathetic.

It is clear, then, that tennis players are treated like anyone else entering the country, which they do not like. It’s absolutely crap that players have to be quarantined in tight quarters for so long, but the real problem here is why the Australian Open is taking place anyway. The world is still battling a global pandemic and all it takes is a bit of neglect to keep the disease out of control. The government puts the health of the country first and rightly does not care about the tennis professionals who gambled during a pandemic. Two weeks trapped inside can be devastating to the mind and body, but it was a risk that all players were consciously good.

All of this reminds us that sports are a privilege and that tennis players trapped in hotel rooms don’t seem to catch on.

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