YOU’VE GOT TO BE DJOKING
TENNIS ACE LISTS DEMANDS FOR GOVT
MEMO to all the tennis stars complaining from their hotel suites; stop your moaning.
You are getting no sympathy from anyone in this country given what we have been through this year. None at all.
Sure, these are not ideal situations to be in ahead of a grand slam. But this is what you’ve got.
I have played a lot of grand slams. I know firsthand what it is like to prepare for one and the stress that goes with it. Anxiety is high and you’re on edge preparing for the biggest stage in your sport. There’s a lot on the line.
Sure, it’s not ideal preparation to be in lockdown - full or partial. It’s not ideal to be stuck in a room, it’s not ideal the food sucks, it’s not ideal you can’t train as you normally would.
None of this is ideal but after almost a year without any play or income, you’ve come to Melbourne and, if you’re a singles player, you’re getting a guaranteed $100k that’s a lot of money.
Perhaps it’s time these players got some perspective.
No one foresaw how this pandemic would impact the world. This virus is killing thousands of people on a daily basis, people are losing their homes, their jobs and not seeing their families.
Players have been granted an exemption and an opportunity to earn huge money, yet they’re complaining. Public backlash is hardly a surprise is it?
Like every other Melburnian I spent months and months last year sat at home unable to travel more
than 5km, only allowed out for an hour a day, unable to see loved ones or go about my normal life.
And like thousands of others I spent almost a year with little to no work and therefore no income.
We have all been through hell and these players are complaining about their situations? It’s completely tone deaf.
I want to see this Australian Open happen and for everyone to be wowed by an incredible and safe tournament, but I don’t want us to give players whatever they are demanding at the expense of Victorians and community safety.
I know there are plenty of people that don’t want this tournament to go ahead and I understand their apprehensions.
The players need to be far more sensitive to local
sentiment instead of their own. And as for Novak Djokovic and his list of demands. Is he serious?
It’s a selfish political move to gain popularity, and, given his behaviour at the Adria Tour - where he and several other players contracted and spread the virus - he’s the last person anyone is going to take COVID advice form.
To suggest players should have shorter quarantine is not only ridiculous it’s insulting to Australians that have had to endure it.
What did he think would happen? That Dan Andrews would say ‘yeah sure Novak anything you want’. Spare me.
If players reckon this wasn’t what they signed up for maybe they should have been on pre-tournament calls with Tennis Australia because the rules were made abundantly clear.