New setback for the 72 inmates: they lose an extra day of training

The end of the quarantine began this Thursday at 18:00 Australian time (08:00 in Spain) for tennis players and their companions (960 people in total) who arrived in Melbourne on January 14, and will last until early Sunday morning. The departure order is communicated half an hour in advance through a note slipped under the door of the rooms. But, as indicated The Herald Sun, not all have been able to leave the official hotels immediately and this has caused a new anger among the 72 who remain totally confident having been in contact with a positive case of COVID.

This large group, who have not enjoyed the five hours of freedom to go out to train, will not be able to leave their accommodation until midnight on the day that corresponds to them. terminate quarantine. For this reason they will lose an extra day of training to prepare some of the tournaments that start this Sunday in the capital of the state of Victoria. This is the case of the Spanish Carlos Alcaraz and Mario Vilella.

The reactions have not been long in coming. Tennys Sandgren, who traveled from Los Angeles after recovering from the coronavirus, in one of the planes where positives were registered in personnel related to tennis, he recorded a video in which he sarcastically laments this delay. “I just found out that we won't be able to leave the room until midnight, which will leave us about 15 days in this room.”, said. “It is also another day when we cannot practice. That leaves us Saturday, Sunday and Monday before playing a match on Tuesday, a competitive tennis match. After 16 days off we have three days of training and then a tennis match. My name is Tennis Australia and I love it a lot“.

Badosa, until next week

Paula Badosa, the only player who tested positive for coronavirus, will have to stay, like her coach, Javier Martí, in the medicalized hotel with hardly any services in which she's locked up until next week. And it is that both were affected by the British strain. The Australian Ellen Perez, who joined the quarantine late from outside the country, will also extend her confinement. The Spanish will not be able to participate in any of the three WTA 500 tournaments that start this Sunday and will prepare a few days in advance for the Australian Open. The rest of the players will have to present all their negative tests before leaving their hotels and then they will be able to choose whether to stay in them or change accommodation. The infected, mostly trainers, must be asymptomatic to be able to leave. The 72 inmates need a letter of authorization from the Victorian Government. These, as compensation, will have priority access to the training courts even at dawn and delays in their participation in the order of play of the tournaments. Nevertheless, there is a infected person who has already come out, Lauren Davis's coach, Eddie Elliot. A fact that has angered the rest, although the authorities clarify that after 10 days without symptoms it is not considered a source of contagion.