Roberto Bautista Agut says being in quarantine alike to being in prison

Spanish no. 2 Roberto Bautista Agut became the latest player to call out the quarantine arrangements in Melbourne ahead of the Australian Open. On Tuesday, the world no. 13 compared the quarantine facilities to that of jail but with the added benefit of Wi-Fi.

Speaking to an Israeli media outlet, the Spaniard said, “It’s the same, but with Wi-Fi. 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.”

He, then, also said, “You can work in the room but it’s not the same. I feel very, very tight and I cannot imagine staying (for) two weeks like this. It’s really, really tough. I will have to work a lot mentally.”

Bautista Agut’s statements coincided with Victoria’s health department officials announcing that two players had returned positive tests on Tuesday. Seventy-two players have been asked to quarantine for 14 days following positive test results of co-passengers in the chartered flights organised by Tennis Australia. This quarantining is on the regulations mandated by the Victorian health department guidelines. 

Roberto Bautista Agut unhappy, as well

The players entering the 14-day quarantine period has left them with barely a week to prepare for the Australian Open that is due to begin from 8th February. However, Craig Tiley, the CEO of Tennis Australia, said that the scoring format – for the men – will not be shortened despite the circumstances.

In an interview with Australian media, Nine Network, Tiley said, “We are a Grand Slam at the end of the day. Right now, three out of five sets for the men and two out of three sets for the women is the position we plan on sticking to.”

He also added, “In order for us to pull this off, we’ve had to do it with great partnership with quarantine Victoria, with the Victorian government and that is working really well. The two weeks with the players and 72 of them being in a hard lockdown, we are providing them with all sorts of exercise equipment in their rooms. They can be creative on how they use the dressers, the beds for exercise, and we have seen on social media some really interesting ideas. And then they are going to come out after 14 days in their room and we will give them some time to prepare and that is why we had that buffer week, in the event that this was going to happen.”

Meanwhile, returning to Roberto Bautista Agut, the 32-year-old reached the third round of the 2020 Australian Open. His best result in the Major came in 2019, when he reached the quarter-finals.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3qCQWC3