Covid-19 winning battle with Australian Open star sulks
- Chance to play for US$71.5 million prize pot at Melbourne Park comes at cost of quarantine and coronavirus prevention protocols
- Players’ preparations far from ideal but dramatic overreaction of some has gone down badly with public
Perhaps they were expecting the red carpet, rather than red tape, but the red mist has descended among many of the elite tennis players who have arrived in Australia for next month’s Australian Open.
Looking at the social media of some who are in quarantine in Melbourne is reminiscent of Fyre Festival, the social media scam that provided plenty of people with a laugh at the expense of those bright young things that travelled to the Bahamas in 2017, only to be met with Lord of the Flies rather than luxury.
The Australian Open is not Fyre Festival, but some of the players’ social media posts smack of the same entitlement.
Novak Djokovic has taken the brunt of the backlash from Joe Public after the world No 1 made six demands of the AO organisers and was swiftly called on that by Nick Kyrgios on Twitter: “Djokovic is a tool.”
The Australian also took issue with Bernard Tomic’s girlfriend, OnlyFans starlet Vanessa Sierra, who complained on her YouTube channel that she had to wash her own hair in quarantine.
“I don’t mind Bernie but his Mrs obviously has no perspective, ridiculous scenes.”
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The scenes have got no less ridiculous and it turns out that tennis players having a little whinge for having to sit in their rooms and their efforts to train is a pretty entertaining stand-in for tennis.
Like prison but with internet access was the verdict of Spanish player Roberto Bautista Agut.
“It’s the same, but with Wi-fi,” the world No 13, who reached the Australian Open quarters in 2019, told Israel’s Sport 5.
Wi-fi was not among Djokovic’s demands, which were reasonable enough on paper if never likely to be accepted.
“People are free to ask for things, but the answer is no,” Victorian premier Dan Andrews said after Djokovic made his demands.
“They knew what they were travelling into and we are not cutting corners or making special arrangements,” he said.
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They did indeed know what they were travelling into for a tournament with US$71.5 million in prize money. Complaints such as Bautista Agut’s are not being met well in Australia.
“These people have no idea about tennis and about practice courts, and it’s a complete disaster. The control of everything isn’t Tennis Australia, it’s with the government,” Bautista Agut said.
The government, rather than Tennis Australia, is probably who should be in charge of dealing with a pandemic.
Tennis Australia or the tournament might play favourites, an accusation that has been lobbed their way but denied by tournament CEO Craig Tiley.
Djokovic, who said he was using his platform on behalf of the 72 players in hard quarantine, made his six demands from Adelaide, where he and his fellow superstars – Rafa Nadal, Dominic Thiem, Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka and Simona Halep – are based ahead of an exhibition.
South Australia is much less strict than neighbouring Victoria, the hardest hit state in Australia and where government measures have been the strongest.
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Thiem denied this was an advantage.
“It’s a privilege to be here in Adelaide, but it’s not that huge an advantage,” he said. “We get the same amount of practice time as the guys in Melbourne.
“Compared to the players who are not in hard quarantine in Melbourne, we have pretty similar conditions.
“They have a huge disadvantage, but that’s the risk we take when we go on to a plane nowadays.”
Well said – even if it might be easier to say from Adelaide.
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Quarantine is the pay-off for the Aussie Open and one many Australians, of whom thousands are still trapped overseas and unable to return home because of travel restrictions, would love to be offered.
No wonder there is little sympathy for the “whingeing sook” tennis players from locals – and you can only imagine what it would be like if any of those moaning were English.
“Sooner or later we have to go back to normal,” seems to be the argument made by some sports fans, who want everything as it was pre-pandemic.
Then it has to be later, unless sports and all those involved are willing to put up with whatever a government and organisers deem necessary to combat Covid-19.
That’s the thing – just like the Melbourne Park sun, if you don’t take Covid-19 seriously it will leave you red-faced.
