It’s been 11 months since the last time fans could pack up a stadium in America to watch sports. Sometimes it is felt that pandemic restrictions will last forever. But on Friday in Adelaide, Australia, there was a look at the future and present that America could have with competent leadership.
CAPRA Serena Williams titrated A day at the Drive, a tennis exhibition that helped players prepare to engage in their tuning for the Australian Open after coming out of a 14-day quarantine upon arrival at Down Under.
Williams played Naomi Osaka, each taking a set, 6-2, before the 23-time major champion prevailed, 10-7, in a decisive tie-break. The other women’s brand match, between number 1 Ash Barty and number 2 Simona Halep, also required a tie-breaker, the Romanian obtaining a triumph with 10-8.
The results didn’t matter much, but the event was a celebration for both the fans and the players, to be able to return to normal. A few masks were visible in the crowd, but not mandatory, as the entire Australian country has not had a day with more than 35 new cases of COVID-19 since the beginning of the year.
“Trusting your laws was great,” Williams said. “And we were just so happy to be here and now it’s worth it.”
G / O Media may receive a commission
In an interview with Stephen Colbert at begining of the weekWilliams described the quarantine experience as “super intense, but … super good, because after that you can have a new normal as we were used to last year this time in the United States.”
Williams was quarantined with her 3-year-old daughter Olympia, and anyone with children in a pandemic can tell you how stupid it makes to sound when players like Roberto Bautista Agut compare it to “prison … but with wifi”. Novak Djokovic, who was number 20 in Deadspin The idiot of the year for 2020, for its superspreader event and implicitly at the US Open, it has also drawn criticism for calling for a reduction in quarantine restrictions for players, although tried to clarify that he was trying to “use my privileged position to be as useful as I can where and when needed.”
Sure, just like Djokovic was just trying to make a point when he hit a ball in the neck of a quieter at Flushing Meadows.
Djokovic withdrew from A Day at the Drive, citing blisters on his hand, but appeared anyway to play a set against Jannik Sinner.
At least Djokovic being a complete weirdo is a form of normal that never stops.