A spokesman for COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria said the head of the organisation, Emma Cassar, will not be considering allowing players any of the requests made by Novak Djokovic, on behalf of those stuck in 14-days hard hotel lockdown.
Spanish tennis website Punto de Break reported late last night that Djokovic had written a letter to Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley requesting things like “decent food” for players, less days in isolation and moving players in hard lockdown to “private houses with a court to train”.
When asked on Melbourne radio station 3AW if Victoria would allow players to see their coaches face-to-face or let them train at private properties with tennis courts, Ms Cassar said “absolutely not”.
“We’re not modifying the program,” she said. “We understand the 14 days is really tough … but we’re not taking risks on community safety.”That’s a definite no from me,” she said when asked if the players could leave quarantine early.
“They’ve got phones, they’ve got technology where they can do that now, because again that’s the safest way for them to do those coaching sessions and we’ve all learnt to live with this pandemic in a virtual sense. It’s about keeping them safe and their coaches safe.”
