72 quarantined players, training with a mattress and a mouse in the room: in what conditions are preparations for the Australian Open

Hotel change and special conditions for tops

The fate of the Australian Open in 2021 was initially in question due to the country's stringent anti-coronavirus measures.

Now in Australia, not only the external borders are closed, but also the borders between some states.

Despite this, the organizers managed to secure the right to host the tournament in a traditional place.

However, all tennis players, as well as their team members, were required to comply with a number of serious restrictions.

They had to fly to Melbourne in advance and spend two weeks in voluntary isolation in one of the hotels.

Leaving hotel rooms was allowed only for five hours (two for tennis, two for physical training and one for food).

In case of violation of the rules, harsh sanctions were envisaged, including criminal liability.

Other possible measures included a fine, disqualification, loss of prize money, isolation in a government-designated hotel room, extension of quarantine, detention and deportation.

The tennis players could only intersect with those colleagues with whom they were in the same training group.

It was planned that in the first week the participants would work out in pairs, and in the second - in four.

So, Ukrainian Elina Svitolina complained that she would not be able to see her French boyfriend Gael Monfils.

“We received a letter that we will not see each other during this period, so that the circle of communication does not expand.

This rule was adopted by the Australian government.

This is a very interesting experience, I would say it will not be easy.

We will know that we are not far away, but we will not even be able to approach each other, "the Big Tennis of Ukraine portal quotes her.

The first problems arose long before the start of the tournament, which is to start on February 8th.

It was planned that the tennis players will stay at The Westin, but the owners of apartments located in the same building with the hotel opposed this decision due to fear of contracting the coronavirus.

The organizers had to hastily look for another place to live for the athletes and their mentors.

No sooner had this scandal abated than another flared up.

It turned out that tennis players in the top 3 world rankings, both among men and among women, will not live with everyone in Melbourne, but will go to Adelaide, where less stringent antiviral measures are in force.

In particular, they will be able to take with them not two people from the team, but five.

The list of "favorites" includes Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Dominic Tim, Simona Halep, Naomi Osaka and the 11th racket of the planet Serena Williams.

The titled American took the place of the owner of the courts Ashley Barty.

At the same time, Sofia Kenin, occupying the fourth line in the WTA list, went along with the rest of the tennis players to Melbourne.

• Rafael Nadal at Adelaide Airport ahead of the Australian Open

• Reuters

• © AAP Image / Morgan Sette

According to Marca, even Djokovic, who received privileges from the organizers, was dissatisfied with the current state of affairs.

The loudest on this topic was the Frenchman Jeremy Chardy, who stressed that the world's leading tennis players received much more comfortable working conditions than their less eminent colleagues.

“They will even be able to use the hotel gym and go to workouts that will not count towards the five-hour quota.

Everyone can go out.

They will begin to live their normal lives.

They already have many privileges ... If they have more opportunities, it is not the same preparation.

And this is strange for a sport where we should all be on an equal footing, ”L'Équipe quoted Chardy as saying.

Roller Kasatkina and Pavlyuchenkova and Djokovic's demands

The organizers adhere to extremely strict rules in matters of logistics.

The participants of the tournament were planned to be delivered to Melbourne by special charters.

All of them had to be tested for coronavirus before departure and, in case of a positive result, stay at home.

However, despite all the measures taken, people still got on board, who were found to have COVID-19 upon arrival in Australia.

On the plane from Los Angeles, two out of 66 passengers passed positive tests. As a result, all the rest were placed in strict quarantine.

Among them were Victoria Azarenka, Kei Nishikori and Sloane Stevens.

They were banned from leaving their hotel rooms for 14 days.

The organizers only promised to provide the athletes with exercise bikes.

The athletes who arrived on other charter flights were not lucky either.

23 participants of the Australian Open went to quarantine due to a positive test of Silvain Bruno, coach of the Romanian Bianca Andreescu.

According to the latest data from local authorities, already ten identified cases of coronavirus are associated with the Australian Open.

Details on the last three of them should be released shortly.

While it is known that we are talking about two players and a team member of one of the tennis players.

As a result, 72 tournament participants were actually locked in their hotel rooms.

There is no question of a normal training process in such conditions, but athletes find an opportunity to keep themselves in shape in one way or another.

The main star of the tournament that has not yet started in recent days has become the representative of Kazakhstan, Yulia Putintseva.

She first posted on her Twitter a video of a mouse that entered her room.

According to the athlete, the hotel staff did not provide any assistance for a long time, and only then agreed to move her to another room.

However, a few days later, the athlete said that there are also rodents in the new building.

it's actually a lot of them!

Not even 1 in my room now🤦🏼‍♀️ pic.twitter.com/uUaicOhoB5

- Yulia Putintseva (@PutintsevaYulia) January 19, 2021

But the video from an unusual workout brought Julia's real fame.

She practiced blows with a mattress attached to the wall.

Even the famous Hollywood actor Russell Crowe was impressed by the tennis player's invention.

Got my new favorite for the Australian open ... https://t.co/jlr3YPpHke

- Russell Crowe (@russellcrowe) January 17, 2021

Putintseva's example turned out to be contagious.

He was soon followed by Pablo Cuevas, who also did a workout with a mattress and posted the video on social media.

Amusing comments to the video were immediately left by the colleagues of the Uruguayan.

For example, Stefanos Tsitsipas asked a colleague to “be quiet” so that no one had to wake up at six in the morning.

And Nikoloz Basilashvili wrote that he now knows "what is happening above."

The Russian women Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Daria Kasatkina delighted the subscribers.

They shot a funny video in which they held correspondence sparring, hitting the ball against the wall in their own rooms.

View this post on Instagram

Publication from Daria Kasatkina🐬 (@kasatkina)

And the girlfriend of Australian tennis player Bernard Tomic, Vanessa Sierra, said that they have to play video games for 11-12 hours a day in order to somehow occupy their time.

However, it is obvious that in such conditions tennis players will not be able to properly prepare for the competition.

To give them the opportunity to get in shape, the representative of Belgium Kirsten Flipkens proposed to postpone the start of the Australian Open for a week.

And Djokovic, according to Punto de Break, urged the organizers to improve the conditions of their colleagues in quarantine, in particular, to provide all rooms with training equipment and provide decent food.

Exit of five Russians to the main draw

The qualification of the Australian Open, the matches of which was hosted by Doha, also faced serious problems.

Tennis players who came to Qatar also complained about not the best conditions for training.

And the Ukrainian Katarina Zavatskaya said that one of the matches was forced to play without line judges, who did not have time to receive the results of the coronavirus test.

But the most unusual situation occurred during the first round game between Moroccan Eliot Benshetri and American Denis Kudla.

During the meeting, it became known that the latter's test for COVID-19 gave a positive result.

By this point, the unsuspecting Kudla was leading 6: 4, 5: 3 and was one step away from victory.

The American was removed from the tournament, and his rival suggested that someone from the hotel guests could have infected the athlete.

“In the hotel, in order not to interfere with guests, the players use the service elevator.

Many tennis players have suspicions that some have contracted the coronavirus through the fault of the hotel workers, who are not checked as often.

Therefore, more and more athletes are taking positive tests, ”Benchetri is quoted by Tennismajors.

As for the Russians, despite all the organizational difficulties, they performed quite successfully in the qualification.

Five domestic athletes made their way to the main draw of the Australian Open.

In men, the champion of the junior AO-2015 Roman Safiulin for the first time in his career entered the basis of the adult Grand Slam tournament.

A similar achievement was achieved by Aslan Karatsev, who occupies 111th place in the ATP ranking.

Among women, Lyudmila Samsonova and Valery Savinykh made their fans happy.

But Margarita Gasparyan and Kamilla Rakhimova were defeated in the third round of qualification.

However, Gasparyan, according to her, will nevertheless come to Melbourne as a “lacquer-loser”.

Also for the first time in her career, Francesca Jones made her way to the main draw of the Australian Open.

The success of the 20-year-old British woman is remarkable, because due to a rare genetic disease - ectrodactyly - the athlete performs five fingers less.

She has four fingers on her left foot and three on her right.

Despite her physical features, Jones chose the path of a professional tennis player for herself, and now she is making her debut at the Grand Slam tournament.