Two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka has issued an impassioned plea to her fellow players to show “understanding and empathy” amid criticism of quarantine conditions in Melbourne.
Key points:
- Azarenka urges all players to be mindful of what Victorians have experienced during the COVID-19 lockdown
- She says respect needed to be shown for the pandemic’s global impact
- Roberto Bautista Agut previously likened the quarantine conditions to being in prison “but with WiFi”
There are currently 72 players who are confined to their hotel rooms for 14 days in Melbourne and unable to train outside on courts allocated to players for practice ahead of the season-opening major beginning on February 8.
Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut has likened quarantine conditions to being in prison, while men’s world number one Novak Djokovic, who is quarantining in Adelaide, has been widely criticised for making a list of suggestions to help those players who are under the strictest lockdown rules.
Azarenka, who won the women’s title at Melbourne Park in 2012 and 2013, acknowledged being in a 14-day quarantine was “very tough to accept in terms of all the work that everyone has been putting in during their off-season”.
But the former women’s world number one said all players needed to show patience and be respectful of what the Victorian community had gone through during the coronavirus pandemic.
“I would like to ask all my colleagues for cooperation, understanding and empathy for the local community that has been going through a lot of very demanding restrictions that they did not choose, but were forced to follow,” Azarenka tweeted.
“I would like to ask to be sensitive as well to the people who have lost their jobs and loved ones during this horrible time for all of us around the world.
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Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley replied to Azarenka’s tweet, thanking her for her support and saying her “words are much appreciated”.
“It means a lot to us,” Tiley tweeted.
Azarenka’s stance is at odds with men’s world number 13 Bautista Agut, who expressed his frustration with the player lockdown.
“It’s the same [as being in prison], but with WiFi,” he said in an interview with Israeli broadcaster Sport5.
“These people has [sic] no idea about tennis, about practice courts, has no idea about anything so it’s a complete disaster.”
But Czech Barbora Strycova, a Wimbledon semi-finalist in 2019, supported the strict health protocols players were faced with during their quarantine period.
“I’m exercising twice a day, reading some books, being on social (media) and watching TV,” she told SEN Breakfast.
“I can’t really complain. I really have to go through it and try to be as positive as I can be.”
