15 flights on which there were over 1,200 players, crew, coaches and referees landed in Melbourne ahead of the Australian Championships which will open on 8 February. Three of them (from Abu Dhabi, Doha and Los Angeles) were found contagious in Corona, nine in total, one of them a player – so no less than 72 players, as well as quite a few coaches and crew members who joined the trip, were instructed to go into 14-day solitary confinement.
The organizers announced that the players were banned from leaving their room during these two weeks, which provoked great anger on their part due to the fact that they could not train regularly and prepare for the first Grand Slam of the year, unlike their friends who are not committed to isolation.
The mess is celebrating. Entrance to the training complex in Melbourne
(Photo: getty images)
From the plane straight to the insulation. The players land in Australia
(Photo: getty images)
“The virus does not give special treatment to anyone, and neither do we,” said Daniel Andrews, the governor of Victoria, the county where Melbourne is located. “I know there has been quite a bit of talk and complaints from some players about the rules. The same rules apply to them as they apply to anyone else and they were all briefed on it before they came here, and knew that was the case here in the country. So there is no special treatment for anyone.”
The training routine of a professional player requires him to train quite a bit, and those who are not in isolation (full), have been given permission to train for five hours every day. The rest of the time they are also not allowed to leave the room and are actually in 19 hours of isolation.
Want to practice? There are restrictions. Players enter training camp in Melbourne
(Photo: getty images)
Kazakh Yulia Putintseva (28th in the world) was furious at the decision to lock her and her friends in rooms. “What I do not understand is why no one told us that if one person on the plane was positive for the virus, all the passengers would go into isolation,” she tweeted. “If I had known that, I would have thought twice if at all to get here.”
If the fact that she is forced to stay in solitary confinement is not enough, the Kazakh filmed a video in which she appears to have a new “partner”, a mouse who disturbs her rest. She claimed she demanded a room change, but this was not done due to the isolation.
Meanwhile Putintseva turned the room into an improvised pitch and showed off her training routine as she practices in front of one of the walls in the room. She’s really not the only one. Many tennis players have begun to upload excerpts that seem almost delusional and illogical – probably when you consider the fact that this is really their only possible preparation for the Australian Championships.
Tunisian Rape Jabor (30) took advantage of the mattress in the room for a punching session and even posted a video of her coach running five miles inside the room. Barbara Strehova (38) offered her services as a handywoman while riding an in-room exercise bike. And impossible without a Roland Garros champion , The Polish Iga Schwintek, who made lemonade from the lemons with some unconventional exercises.
The one who has become the unofficial spokesman for the isolated tennis players is the world number one Novak Djokovic, who also fell into forced isolation. The Serb, who received quite a bit of criticism for the tournament he organized without following the guidelines while the virus broke out in his country, causing mass infection of most of the players who participated in it, drafted a request document (requirements?) Designed to make it as easy as possible for him and the other tennis players.
Among other things, he asked for equipment for fitness training and tennis training in each room, that the food served to tennis players be at the level served at the Australian Championships, reduce the number of isolation days, possibility to visit personal trainers provided both sides have a negative test and move as many players to private homes.
“People are welcome to continue sending a list of demands, but the answer is no,” Andrews responded.
“The Speaker”. Novak Djokovic
(Photo: getty images)
Nick Kirius, 43, who also happens to be Australian and not by chance a regular critic of Djokovic, sent a sting on Twitter after the latter appointed himself the players’ spokesman: “Such a Novak Djokovic is full of himself.” Even during the period of Adria Tor (“The Corona Tournament” organized by Djokovic) Kirius spared no criticism from Manola (“This is what happens when you ignore all procedures. This is not a joke”), and how to put it mildly – he is not a person who keeps things to himself.
But that’s not all. It turns out that Djokovic, as well as other senior tennis players, for example Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams, are making “a little different” insulation, much softer. A picture of Osaka in an indoor court along with her team has gone viral and quite a few tennis players in isolation are furious at the inequality between them compared to the big stars in the industry.
“A big storm has broken out,” Italian journalist Luca Fiorino reported following another photo of the Japanese woman being photographed in an unusual pose in her hotel room. “It made the other players very upset.”
In fact, the organizers of the Australian Championship selected six players, three men (Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Dominic Tim) and three women (Osaka, Williams and Simona Halp) for a kind of preliminary competition for the first slam of the year, and therefore received benefits such as the opportunity to train in the gym.
Frenchman Jeremy Chardi really did not like to hear this and told L’Equipe: “The announcement of this preliminary competition came a bit out of nowhere and I’m fine. Besides five hours of training, they get overtime in the gym, they can leave their room whenever they want “They can almost live normally.”
Sports Illustrated revealed that the organizers asked those players who are not in full isolation and those who were given preferential terms, to try not to upload photos to social media so as not to annoy those unlucky players who are forced to stay in their room.
“These are challenging days for everyone,” said a spokesman for the championship organizing committee. “We understand it’s frustrating for the players and apologize for that.”
Raphael Nadal
(Photo: getty images)
Serena Williams
(Photo: getty images)
Meanwhile, there are also voices calling at all to cancel the tournament. One of them is that of Tim Smith, a Member of Parliament who belongs to Victoria County and is considered a staunch opponent of the Governor of Andrews. “It is not fair that 1,200 players, staff and referees have been allowed to enter Victoria while the whole area remains closed to Australians who come from certain parts of the country.”
“The double standard here stinks,” he added. “Daniel Andrews should fight for the good of the people of Victoria, not for the good of the tennis players in the world. Approve the people of Victoria to return home or cancel the Australian Championship.”
Be amazed, there are also voices calling for obedience to the strict rules, to do the maximum in the existing situation and just follow the instructions. “One of them is that of Belarusian Victoria Azarenka, who has won twice in Australia in the past: I ask all my friends to cooperate, understand and sympathize with the local community, which has undergone many severe and stringent restrictions, and forced them to abide by them.”