Madrid (AFP)
Catalan tennis player Paula Badosa (world 67th) denounced Monday in an interview with the Spanish newspaper Marca the "lamentable" conditions of her quarantine at the Australian Open, after having tested positive for the coronavirus in mid-January.
"The conditions we find ourselves in here are appalling, I did not expect that," Badosa told Marca, Spain's top-selling newspaper, on Monday.
The tennis player tested positive for Covid-19 on her arrival in Australia, self-confined from January 15, and was transferred Wednesday to a medical hotel to continue her quarantine, details the Spanish sports daily .
"The first thing that is recommended when you have a virus is to open the windows in your room so that the air circulates. I don't have windows in my room, which is barely 15 meters long. squares, ”Badosa described.
"Obviously the only thing I breathe is the virus. I asked for cleaning products, like a vacuum cleaner, but I was not given anything," she added.
La Catalane is one case among 72 players confined to hotels for 14 days after coronavirus cases were discovered on their flights to Australia.
Organizers said equipment would be provided to quarantined players, some of whom have turned their hotel rooms into a makeshift gym, to keep fit.
But Badosa says she received nothing.
"I feel abandoned, because I do not have the equipment to train that I asked for after five days (in quarantine), I am not informed of the type of virus (variant, note) that I Then we are supposed to know after three days, no information from the tournament ... ", lamented Badosa.
Last Thursday, the Spanish Tennis Federation (RFET) called on its Australian counterpart to ask him "to resolve the problem of the players most affected" by the quarantine conditions in Melbourne before the Australian Open ... in particular "Mario Vilella and Carlos Alcaraz (minor), confined in a room without being able to leave it for 14 days while the two had multiple negative PCR tests ".
© 2021 AFP