Hotel is ‘like jail, but with WiFi’
MELBOURNE • Roberto Bautista Agut has slammed the Victoria state government’s quarantine requirements for tennis players ahead of next month’s Australian Open, saying that being subject to a hotel lockdown was no different to being imprisoned.
Passengers who arrived on three charter flights have been placed into hard quarantine, including 72 players who are unable to train outside their rooms for 14 days before the year’s first Grand Slam starts on Feb 8. Agut is one of those stuck indoors.
A number of top players, including world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, have questioned the necessity for mandatory hotel quarantine but Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said it is essential to stop the spread of Covid-19.
World No. 13 Bautista Agut is also opposed to the two-week quarantine, telling Israeli television channel Sport 5: “It’s like (being) in a jail.
“It’s the same but with Wi-Fi. These people have no idea about tennis and about practice courts and it’s a complete disaster.
“The control of everything isn’t Tennis Australia, it’s with the government (and health officials).”
Agut, who reached the Australian Open quarter-finals in 2019, said the stifling conditions were taking a mental and physical toll on the players. “It’s tough and we have to work a lot mentally and be patient,” he added.
However, Czech Barbora Strycova, a semi-finalist at Wimbledon in 2019, backed the strict health protocols and said she was getting on with it.
“I’m exercising twice a day, reading some books, being on social (media) and watching TV,” she told SEN Breakfast radio programme. “I can’t really complain. I really have to go through it and try to be as positive as I can be.”
Former world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka has also urged her peers to “accept and adapt” to the strict health regulations.
The Belarusian, who is one of the many players under a hard lockdown, yesterday tweeted: “I understand all the frustration and feeling of unfairness that has been coming and it is overwhelming.”
The two-time Australian Open winner added: “I would like to ask all of us to respect people who work tirelessly to try and make our lives easier.”
REUTERS