Djokovic: Here’s how we want it managed
The No 1 male tennis player in the world, Novak Djokovic, has reportedly issued a letter to Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley as the shambolic arrival of overseas participants continues.
On Sunday night, a third plane with a positive Covid-19 test arrived in Melbourne as tennis stars continued to complain about the conditions they face in quarantine.
There are now reportedly 72 players who face a hard 14-day lockdown, unable to leave their hotel rooms.
Spanish tennis website Punto de Break reports Djokovic has called for Tiley to support the players who are being forced into quarantine, after originally believing they would be able to leave their rooms for five hours a day to train and receive treatment.
Journalist Fernando Murciego reports Djokovic’s proposals include:
• Fitness and training material in all rooms
• Decent food for elite athletes, following players taking aim at the meals on offer
• Reduce the days of isolation for players in quarantine and carry out more tests to confirm they are negative
• Permission to visit your coach or physical trainer, as long as both test negative
• Grant both the player and their coach permission to be on the same floor of the hotel
• Move as many players as possible to private houses with a tennis court to facilitate training
Djokovic was the former president of the ATP Player Council but resigned to help set up the PTPA (Professional Tennis Players Association).
As the proposals began to circulate, social media was quick to remind the world that Djokovic had tested positive for Covid-19 in June after organising the Adria Tour, a tennis exhibition series in Serbia and Croatia held without any social distancing measures in place.
It came a day after Austrian world No 42 doubles player Philipp Oswald, who is one of the players in hard quarantine, called out Djokovic and other players who landed in Adelaide instead of Melbourne for an exhibition tournament.
Tennisnet.com reported a Q&A where Oswald called out the tournament double standards, as it was revealed on January 9 that a curtain-raiser to the summer of tennis called A Day at the Drive was to be held in Adelaide on Friday, January 29.
It will feature players including Serena Williams, Rafael Nadal, Dominic Thiem, Simona Halep, Naomi Osaka and Djokovic.
“Conditions are much better in Adelaide,” Oswald said.
“First, players were allowed to take a lot more staff with them. Medvedev and Zverev, for example, were only allowed to take two people with them, while Thiem, Nadal and Djokovic each came with 10 people.
“They also have a gym in their hotel. So they don’t have to do their fitness exercises during the five-hour period. You only have the five hours to play tennis. There was a huge discussion and the other players were also upset.
“It was then that Djokovic could understand that and wanted to be in Melbourne like the other players.
“One day later it was said that everything was already organised for him in Adelaide. It’s not apples and apples here, but apples and pears — and I caught the sour lemon.”
Italian tennis journalist Luca Fiorino reported world No 3 women’s player Osaka deleted a photo that caused a stink, with rivals “not very happy at the unequal treatment in relation to big players staying in Adelaide”.
While there have been three flights with players forced into quarantine in Melbourne, the Australian Open Twitter page wrote “SA Health has confirmed that there is no one who has an active Covid19 infection in the entire tennis cohort based in Adelaide. Testing will continue on a daily basis.”
— news.com.au