Australian Open buildup shows no sport handling pandemic as clumsily as tennis
No tennis player across the world attracts drama like Yulia Putintseva. The story goes that at just 16, she lost in the finals of the US Open junior event, stormed off the court and when officials beckoned her to return she dramatically proclaimed: “It’s not safe to be around me.” She once flipped off an Australian Open crowd on her way out after a loss. Her deliciously petty handshakes, so entertaining for onlookers, are detested across the sport.
There was always going to come a time when her name virally flitted across the internet, but the surprise was that it came in the form of her social media posts. Throughout last week the Kazakh became one of the most prominent voices at the Australian Open from those critical of the Victorian state government for putting 72 players who arrived in the state on contaminated flights into a hard 14-day lockdown. In response, they received an avalanche of criticism from the Australian public.
In hindsight, the butting of heads between tennis players and the public was inevitable. Over the past 10 months, no sport has navigated the pandemic as clumsily as tennis. The tone was set by the Adria tour last April, the superspreader event conceived by Novak Djokovic, and it has endured: Alexander Zverev partied when he should have been in quarantine, Sam Querrey flitted from Russia to London while infected with coronavirus. Most spectacularly, the recently retired Dominika Cibulkova managed to jump the queue and was vaccinated before the elderly and healthcare workers, to the rage of the Slovak public.
While complaints perceived as entitled are not at all in line with the reckless actions of some of their colleagues, the theme in tennis over the past nine months has been failure to grasp key aspects of the situation. Some continue to project a basic lack of understanding of how the virus works. Most recently, Juan Ignacio Londero of Argentina bemoaned the length of the quarantine since most players had tested negative: “They treat you like you have leprosy,” he said. A day later, on day seven of quarantine, Paula Badosa of Spain tested positive.
There has also been a failure to understand the mood of the public as people across the world deal with the fatigue, insecurity and trauma, 10 months and counting into the pandemic. Those sensations are even more heightened in Australia. Melbourne has gone more than two weeks without a new community case. The prospect of falling back into another lockdown never strays far from minds. For 10 months, athletes have been told that the essential role of sports in these times is to provide an escape and distraction. They have learned in Australia that many people do not believe that to be true.
As the quarantine endures, the players have also received deserved sympathy. Many players adjusted to their new situation with a quiet resolve and those who amplified their problems have legitimate issues. Even if Tennis
Australia did communicate the possibility of players being forced into a hard lockdown, both players and organisation carry the blame for so many players failing to understand the risks of travelling across closed borders in the middle of a pandemic.
Djokovic is not the villain in this story. Workers should always be able to make their collective opinions heard and Djokovic’s leaked list of requests to Tennis Australia’s chief executive, Craig Tiley, widely characterised as a list of demands, seemed to be a genuine attempt to help his colleagues after discussions on WhatsApp. But, as is so often the case with Djokovic, the execution was a failure. The reasonable, constructive suggestions were counterbalanced by absurd ideas about potentially housing players in private compounds with courts and adjusting the coronavirus protocol.
As the players edge towards freedom, one lingering question is why this tournament exists. It certainly is not going to produce a fair competition. This period has shone a light on the inequalities in tennis. As tennis players confined in Melbourne strike balls against mattresses and mourn their fitness, they have seen Djokovic relaxing on his Adelaide balcony and Naomi Osaka training with a vast team of four. Many players will be forced to compete without any proper warmup and the men will have to do so in potentially sweltering heat across best of five sets.
While many residents have registered their opposition to the event,
Tennis Australia does not gain financially from it. The recent dispute over the A$40m (£22.5m) quarantine bill reflects an uncertainty about how the enormous costs will be funded.
The closest thing to an answer was provided by the Victorian premier, Dan Andrews, presenting the event as facing an existential threat. “If the Australian Open does not happen in Melbourne, it will happen somewhere else,” he said. “It will happen in Japan, it will happen in China, it will happen in Singapore. The real risk then is, it doesn’t come back.”
It was deeply unconvincing. Most Asian tennis events have already been cancelled and a sport so deeply rooted in tradition is not going to rid itself of one of its most important events because of a pandemic. Once the quarantine ends and competitions resume, the hope is that the players themselves will allow us to forget these early complications with the force of their talent.