Covid: Australian Open players frustrated by hotel isolation

Several Australian Open tennis players have expressed frustration at being confined to their hotel rooms for two weeks after people on their flights tested positive for coronavirus.

At least three female players said they might not have gone to the tournament if the rules were made clear to them.

Organisers said the rules were clear, and the event would go head as planned.

At least 47 players are now in isolation ahead of the competition in Melbourne, which begins on 8 February.

Three people tested positive for Covid on Saturday and one on Sunday. They had been on two chartered flights bringing players to the tournament.

Top players such as Victoria Azarenka, Sloane Stephens, Kei Nishikori, Angelique Kerber and the UK’s Heather Watson are among those affected, badly impacting their preparations.

One of the positive cases, a coach, said he was “sorry for the consequences now on everyone’s shoulders”.

Meanwhile Emma Cassar, quarantine commissioner for the state of Victoria, said people in the hotels – including one player – were breaching lockdown rules by opening their doors to communicate with others on their floor.

“It is really low-level but really dangerous acts which we just can’t tolerate,” she said.

What is all the fuss about?
All players taking part in the competition have had to test negative before boarding flights and then be placed in designated Australian Open quarantine hotels in Melbourne and Adelaide.

They are allowed out for up to five hours a day to practise on court, except for those on the two offending flights who have been confined to their rooms.

But players said they were not aware of the rule that everyone on a plane had to isolate if someone on it tested positive.

Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan wrote on Twitter: “What I don’t understand is that, why no one ever told us, if one person on board is positive the whole plane need to be isolated… I would think twice before coming here.”

Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic tweeted that she decided to come based on rules sent to players beforehand but was presented with further rules on arrival.

Romanian player Sorana Cirstea wrote on Twitter that she thought she would only have to isolate if someone in her team tested positive.

But Australian Open director Craig Tiley disagreed that the rules were not properly explained.

“We did make it very clear at the beginning, that’s why we had the player groups in cohorts, there was always a risk that someone would be positive and have to go into 14 days of isolation,” he said

“There was a risk on the plane that you would be a close contact, there was a risk that everyone could be a close contact.”

He insisted the tournament – the first Grand Slam of the year – would go ahead as planned.

“We always knew there would be significant risk with this pandemic, you can never tell,” Mr Tiley told the Channel Nine TV station.

How did this situation come about?
Organisers of the Australian Open have been arranging chartered flights for players and their teams to be transported to Melbourne ahead of the tournament. These flights have frustrated many Australians, who have not been able to return home because of travel restrictions during the pandemic.

BBC