Australian authorities on Monday denied the request of the world's number 1 racket Novak Djokovic to relax from quarantine measures of tennis players participating in the Australian Open, which runs from February 8-21.
“People are free to put forward a list of demands, but the answer is no,” said Victoria's head of government Daniel Andrews., at a press conference in Melbourne in which he stressed that the sanitary measures imposed around the Australian Open “were clearly exposed in advance.”
The 33-year-old Serbian, who like some elite tennis players like Rafa Nadal are in the city of Adelaide fulfilling his confinement, sent Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley a letter with six points to improve the players' conditions, as reported on Sunday by the specialized website Punto de Break.
Djokovic requested in his letter the transfer of the players to private homes with tennis courts to train, authorization for their coach or physical trainer to visit them if they have passed the tests to detect covid-19, reduce the days of isolation, among other demands.
“There is no special treatment for anyone,” Andrews insisted. when asked about the request of the world's number 1.
Victoria, which was the epicenter of the second wave of COVID-19 in Australia following failures in the quarantines of travelers in Melbourne hotels, reported on Monday its 12th day without local infections, although four of the infections among international travelers are linked to the Australian Open.
To the date, a total of 72 players have been forced into confinement in their hotel rooms in Melbourne, without the possibility of going out for five hours to train, for having traveled in three charter planes with 5 cases of COVID-19, which has caused discontent among several of them.
One of the complaints that has gone viral was that of Yulia Putintseva, who posted on Saturday night a video of a mouse inside her room where she is serving quarantine, as well as training, while the Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas is dedicated to putting images of him “surfing” on his mattress.
“Here I am going to spend my 14 days of quarantine alone,” the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz Garfia said on Instagram when he showed his room in a video. who together with his compatriot Paula Badosa, as well as the Mexican Santiago González is part of the group of 72 athletes under strict confinement.