Someone for quarantine tennis? Players forced to isolate for two weeks before Australian Open find ways to stay fit in their hotel rooms – including smashing salvos on an overturned mattress
- 72 players were locked in their rooms at the Grand Hyatt in Melbourne
- The outbreak of Covid meant that players would have to stay isolated for ten days
- Some of the biggest stars in the sport, including Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka and Rafael Nadal enjoy better facilities.
- British star Heather Watson managed to run 5K back and forth in her room
- While the American player Coco Gauff was beating her curtains in the bedroom with tennis balls
- The tournament will start tomorrow and will run until February 2
Some of the world’s biggest tennis stars are finding ways to keep fit in front of the Australian Open – despite the fact that many of them are quarantined in their hotel rooms following a Covid outbreak before the Grand Slam.
While a handful of tennis professionals, including Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka and Rafael Nadal, enjoy less stringent restrictions, most players hoping to compete in the tournament have been limited to four walls – many of them being locked up at the Grand Hyatt in Melbourne.
Those players in strict isolation – 72 in the last issue – shared their inventive approach to staying fit without access to regular gyms and training grounds, including breaking balls on mattresses and curtains and creating small running tracks. in their rooms.
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American star Coco Gauff hits balls on curtains and pillows while trying to train for the Australian Open; 72 players were placed in strict quarantine before the Melbourne tournament
Squatting chairs – using a piece of hotel furniture! British tennis star Heather Watson holds up her leather chair while training in the hotel room
The former British number one managed a 5K race … going repeatedly from one end of her hotel room to the other
Meal for one, sir? Stan Wawrinka eats breakfast alone in his hotel apartment after a Covid outbreak in Melbourne forced many players competing in the Australian Open to isolate themselves
Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas is seen flying with his back to an overturned mattress in an attempt to be ready for the Grand Slam – while locked in his bedroom
While British tennis star Heather Watson managed to run 5K back and forth in her room, American tennis star Coco Gauff beat the curtains with tennis balls, and Anastasia Potapova practiced her volleys against the remote windows.
In a video posted on Twitter, Uruguayan player Pablo Cuevas is seen overturning with an overturned mattress, in an attempt to be ready for the Grand Slam later this week.
Meanwhile, Swiss tennis player Belinda Bencic shared a video with her hitting the window of her high room, with skyscrapers from Melbourne clearly visible in the background.
For some, including reigning Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic, 33, the allowed isolation is a little more relaxed.
The biggest names in the game were allowed to fly to Adelaide and enjoy better facilities, such as hotel rooms with balconies, unlike most that are quarantined in Melbourne.
Russian court star Yulia Putinseva used a wardrobe at the Grand Hyatt in Melbourne, where many of the sports stars are shot to shoot
Pillow becomes the target of Tunisian player Ons Jabeur while her coach gives her balls to hit
Marcelo Arévalo González (pictured) practiced volleyball using the mattress while closed
Belinda Bencic finds a way to train while in mandatory quarantine at the hotel before the tournament
This week, Djokovic wrote a letter to Australian Tennis Chief Craig Tiley asking him to arrange training time for the 72 players who were locked in hotel rooms after cases were detected on their charter flights.
Under strict border coronavirus measures in Australia, this means that they are considered a “close contact” of an infected person and must be quarantined for two weeks.
The others can train up to five hours a day in strictly controlled conditions. A number of warm-up events will take place after the quarantine period, before the Australian Open starts on 8 February.
Djokovic also suggested that players could be quarantined in private homes in Melbourne with tennis courts and gym facilities. Those players who are not limited to their rooms can currently train up to five hours a day under strictly controlled conditions.