Some Australian Open players are making the most of their enforced quarantine despite arguing the rules around lockdown requirements were changed without them knowing.
Seventy-two players are in isolation in Melbourne after positive Covid-19 tests were discovered on charter flights to the Victorian city.
The strict lockdown means players have had to improvise their training ahead of the Open, including hitting tennis balls at the wall to practise returns or smashing them into pillows to work on slams.
In their downtime though, some players have taken to social media to protest the strict lockdown, arguing they weren’t informed of the restrictions before heading to Australia.
Sorana Cirstea said the rules weren’t explained properly.
“People complaining we are entitled - I have no issues to stay 14 days in the room watching Netflix,” Cirstea said.
“Believe me this is a dream come true, holiday even. What we can’t do is compete after we have stayed 14 days on a couch. This is the issue, not the quarantine rule.
“I was planning to play the tournament because they promised daily five hour quarantine exemption where we could go practice, do a gym session and rehab.
“This was the deal before signing up to this but the rules changed "overnight"!”
However New Zealand's Artem Sitak, who is also in quarantine, has quashed those claims.
"We had a call with Tennis Australia about a month ago and not a lot of players were on that call, which was surprising to me.
"But hey, that's how it was.
"Basically Tennis Australia, the organisers, they told us the risks that we were going to be undertaking, and they did mention that if somebody tests positive on the flight, it's going to be up to the health authorities to decide whether to quarantine all the flight or just isolate compartments of the plane.
"Now in our case, where the flight attendant tested positive, of course the whole plane has to be quarantined.
"So I was prepared to take that risk and I knew that was a possibility.
"It's unfortunate, the circumstances with the quarantine, but that's how it is."
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