In Australia, tennis stars will not benefit from "any preferential treatment"

Whether your name is Novak Djokovic or Rafael Nadal, no privilege.

Dozens of tennis stars placed in strict quarantine in hotels before the opening of the Australian Open will not benefit from "any preferential treatment" for training, Australian health authorities announced on Monday.

Forced to hit balls against the walls or windows of their rooms, players called for a relaxation of the isolation measures to be in their best form to play the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, which is due to begin February 8.

Australian Prime Minister rejects Djokovic's demands

This weekend, passengers tested positive for Covid-19 on three of the 17 flights that carried the players and their entourage to Melbourne and Adelaide.

The 72 players who were on board, a little more than a quarter of the 256 entered, will not have the right to train before the end of the fortnight intended to prevent any risk of the spread of the new coronavirus.

Health authorities said Monday that they had identified two new cases, bringing the epidemic focus linked to the Australian Open to six.

Several players have expressed their dissatisfaction on social networks.

"READ ALSO - Australian Open: In a letter, Djokovic criticizes the organization

The world number 1 Novak Djokovic, after having traveled aboard a flight where no case has been identified is authorized to train, would have sent a list of requests to the organizers of the tournament which included the right to s '' install in private homes equipped with a tennis court.

The Prime Minister of the State of Victoria Daniel Andrews rejected these requests, affirming that the authorities will not reverse the measures put in place.

“There is no special treatment here.

The virus does not treat anyone in a special way and therefore neither do we, ”he said.

Wrong surface but that doesn't matter for us pic.twitter.com/R8FsdyGafy

- Belinda Bencic (@BelindaBencic) January 17, 2021

Who says players can't train?

# Tennis # AO # Cuevaspic.twitter.com / yM8PYh3eeX

- COURTS Mag (@CourtsMag) January 17, 2021

The special player arrangements have already sparked strong reactions in Australia, with some wondering why more than a thousand players and their entourage were able to fly in to participate in the tournament as tens of thousands of Australians remain stranded abroad.

The huge island-continent closed its international borders in March and limited the number of its nationals allowed to re-enter the country each week.

Alizé Cornet gets annoyed ... then erases her tweet, aware of her mistake

Unlike returnees, the majority of Australian Open qualified players are allowed to leave their rooms five hours a day to train.

Mr Andrews said the players had been informed, before their arrival, of these very strict quarantine rules.

“The idea that there has been a change, the idea that people weren't informed, I think that argument really has no basis,” he said.

"READ ALSO - Australian Open: fifty players in strict isolation after cases of Covid-19

Some recalled that Melbourne underwent four long months of confinement last year, after which the epidemic was brought under control.

“Our health security is more important to us than your privileged feelings,” one person wrote on Twitter.

“Most of us here in Melbourne don't want tennis players to be able to reintroduce the virus and are forcing us to go back to tighter restrictions,” added another.

The French Alizé Cornet apologized to the Australians on Twitter after deleting a tweet in which she described the quarantine measure as “insane”.

“Your reaction to that blunt comment made me realize what you went through last year and how much you suffered,” she wrote.

I think I'm a little anxious about all that and I would have done better to keep quiet ”.

The Australian Tennis Federation has started delivering devices to allow strictly fortnight players to train as some worry about the risk of injury when they return to the courts during tournament preparation week which kicks off in Melbourne January 31.

New Zealand player Artem Sitak told Australian channel ABC that he heard “everywhere” the sound of balls bouncing against the walls of his hotel rooms, while trying to stretch and exercise.

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