Quarantine rules remain for 72 players ahead of Australian Open
Quarantine restrictions will not be relaxed for any of the 72 tennis players confined to their hotel rooms despite the reclassification of two coronavirus cases.
Players on three of the charter flights arranged by Australian Open organisers were told they must stay in their rooms for 14 days because of positive tests returned by a small number of those on the planes.
Victoria's chief health officer Brett Sutton revealed yesterday that two of those positive tests had been deemed viral shedding rather than active cases, meaning that person had already recovered from coronavirus and was no longer infectious.
But that did not change the status of any of the flights, meaning all the 72 players remain unable to train outside of their rooms.
Sutton told Australian media: "This does not change broader assessment of the player group in hotel quarantine. As yet, none of the three affected flights have been cleared as a result of the two reclassified cases."
Three new cases associated with the Australian Open were announced yesterday, including two players, although it is not known whether they are active or viral shedding.
Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut was the latest player to earn criticism in the Australian media for complaining about the quarantine conditions. The world No 13 was shown by Israeli TV channel
Sport 5 likening the conditions to jail and saying the restrictions were a disaster.
There are plenty of players who have accepted the restrictions without complaint and appreciatehowtheirsituation looks to Melburnians, who endured the strictest lockdown in the world to reduce community cases to zero.
Two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka wrote in a Twitter post addressing her fellow players:
"This has been a very difficult time for a lot of us that did not expect to end up in the situation we are in today, myself included. Sometimesthingshappenand we need to accept, adapt and keep moving! I’d like to ask all mycolleaguesforcooperation, understanding and empathy for the local community that has been going through a lot of very demanding restrictions that they did not choose, but were forced to follow."
Tournament director Craig Tiley insisted the majority of players are accepting of the situation and also leapt to the defence of Novak Djokovic following criticism of the world No 1. Djokovic was reported to have issued a list of demands to improve the lot of the 72 players, earning short shrift from Victorian premier Daniel Andrews.
Tiley told Channel 9 TV: "In the case of Novak, he wrote a note, these weren't demands,
they were suggestions, but he is understanding what two weeks of lockdown means. I think the reports we're seeing and things we’re seeing doesn't represent the entire playing group. For the most part, they’ve been really good."
Andy Murray is continuing his isolation at home in Surrey after testing positive for coronavirus and it is hoped he will find out in the next day or two whether he will be able to travel to Australia.