Once released from the confinement of their hotel rooms – their place to eat, sleep, read, exercise and ponder their place in the world for the past two weeks – some of the world’s best tennis players haven’t wasted a minute of their new-found freedom.
With only days to prepare for a swag of lead-in tournaments at Melbourne Park before the Australian Open starting on Monday week, one player in particular headed straight to the practice court for a midnight training session.
Great Britain’s Heather Watson, the world No.58 who made light of her hard lockdown by organising her own ‘quarantine triathlon’ in the confines of her room, declared she was “FINALLY FREE” at 12.54am.
Japan’s Kei Nishikori, set to compete at the ATP Cup men’s teams event on Wednesday, simply checked in to a new hotel, to ensure he was away from one of the three inner-city hotels used for the Open’s quarantine program and considered “red zones” for another day or two.
