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MELBOURNE, Australia – It has been a number of days since the last positive COVID-19 tests surfaced.
Those were for Spanish player Paula Badosa and her coach Javier Marti.
So, given what we know about incubation periods, this is probably the home stretch.
As far as we know. And in a few days everyone will be out and about. And the Australian Open organizers will heave a big sigh of relief.
As the events have unfolded, the thought is that the scene the last 10 days is somewhere between the worst-case and the best-case scenario.
With everyone adjusting on the fly and one hand not always knowing what the other hand is doing, the rules are shifting every day.
Virus information underload
But on the virus itself, the information has been sparse and speculative since the first few days.
It’s almost humorous.– except to those involved. Luckily, it’s almost over.
Tennis Australia was as transparent as it probably could legally be in the early going, announcing that passengers on the flight from Los Angeles and then the Abu Dhabi and Doha flights had tested positive. Those came over three consecutive days from Jan. 15-17. And the result was that everyone on those flights had to hard quarantine, no longer allowed to train and practice.
But since then, not a lot. A few positive tests that were deemed “virus shedding”, without much detail. And word of additional tests have come from word of mouth and from announcement by some of those involved.
Eddie is outta here
The strangest case is that of American coach Eddie Elliott.
Elliott, who works with WTA player Lauren Davis, tested positive for the coronavirus on arrival in Melbourne, despite needing a negative test to be able to board the plane in Los Angeles.
As a result, 24 players – Victoria Azarenka, Sloane Stephens, and his own player – and 78 people in all have had to make do with whatever exercise they can get in their not-too-spacious hotel rooms in downtown Melbourne.
Except … suddenly, on Monday, Elliott was sprung with four days to go in the 14-day period.
Great for him. Except that the other 77 passengers on the plane forced into hard quarantine because of his having the virus are still … in quarantine.
Virus gone? We don’t know
It was reportedly quite the topic of discussion on Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley’s nightly Zoom call with the players on Monday. The Herald Sun reported that veteran American doubles star Bethanie Mattek-Sands – one of the players affected as she begins a new partnership with Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski in Australia – was the most outspoken on the issue.
Explanations? We have none. The Sydney Morning Herald couldn’t get anything from the health services and quarantine departments.
Open Court reached Mattek-Sands’s husband and manager Justin Tuesday. His response has us shooting him straight to the top of the candidates list for the next Republican primary in their home state of Arizona.
A message to Elliott also was not returned.
Elliott also reportedly did not have, or did not have to have, a negative COVID-19 test to get sprung. That’s all we know.
Badosa and Marti battle virus – which strain? Unknown
Meanwhile, Badosa and Marti reportedly have adjoining rooms in the medi-hotel as they’re both monitored for the virus.
Badosa wasn’t happy with the hard quarantine required after Bianca Andreescu coach Sylvain Bruneau tested positive on their flight from Abu Dhabi. Obviously she’s even less thrilled to have had the quarantine clock start all over again with the positive tests for her and her coach.
She told Marca that it has been six days since she was last tested, despite her asking. And she hasn’t been able to determine if she was struck with one of the more aggressive strains of the virus.
Badosa also said that, as a result, she doesn’t know if the quarantine clock will tick for 10 days, or a full 14 days. Those extra days will make a huge difference as she’s up against the Australian Open clock.
“The first thing that is recommended when you have a virus is to open the windows of the rooms to let the air flow. I have no windows (that open) and my room is barely 15 square metres. It is obvious that the only thing I breathe is the virus,” she told Marca. “I have asked for cleaning products, like a vacuum cleaner. And they don’t give me anything.”
Badosa also said she had been asking for an exercise bike and some weights for five days.
Badosa said she’s been dealing with anxiety and a bout of claustrophobia. But she said she isn’t getting much help even though Tiley did call to check on her. As for resolving some of her needs, she said, Tiley referred her to other staff.
Silence from Adelaide
Since an ill-advised video from Naomi Osaka showing she and a large (and maskless) support team having fun on the practice court in Adelaide, it has been practically radio silence from the haves of the tennis circuit.
I mean, it’s so evident it’s amusing. But it’s nice of them to be considerate of the rank and file.
Even Tiley has basically told the non rock-star players in Melbourne to, in essence, suck it up. That the top players in any sport or endeavour usually get special treatment. And it is what it is. And that the Adelaide government helped the tournament out a lot by taking the overflow of players and staff that were over the limit set by the Victorian government.
That doesn’t stop the rumours from flying, of course. Notably that the Adelaide situation had been set up for the world’s best long before the quarantine maximum issue officially arose.
What’s up with Rafa?
Rafael Nadal gave a rather curious interview to Spanish ESPN in which he … hmmm…. well, he said that some of the players who begrudged the conditions in Adelaide didn’t feel badly for those who had smaller rooms than they did in Melbourne. Or something.
He also dropped some not-too-subtle shade on Novak Djokovic (without naming him). Nadal agreed with the expression used by the interview, “tribunero”, which means. He said that not everyone who was trying to help behind the scenes needed to make such a public display of it.
All righty then!
Nadal also thinks there are only about 20 players who are in hard quarantine. So he really has been in a bubble (there are 72).
The sizes of many of the teams are significantly larger than many in Melbourne, which has not gone unnoticed and is one reason the hard cap imposed by the Victorian government of 1,000 tennis visitors was blown away.
What we have seen is that many of the players have balconies. And washing machines. Oh, and kitchens. And extra guests.
It is what it is.
Oopsie for Barty
Score one for the home team when world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty, who doesn’t have to quarantine because she hasn’t left Australia since the pandemic hit, was spotted in a supermarket.
Without a mask.
Oopsie. She promises to do better.
And one for the ro(dents)
Minister of Police Lisa Neville basically accused the players of feeding the mice that appeared in the players’ fairly high-end downtown Melbourne hotel. That was a good one.
Ask Yulia Putintseva.
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Do Australian players not have to quarantine and isn’t that a big advantage when playing quarantined players and especially strict quarantined?
Most didn’t. If they hadn’t left the country. But are they really going to spend more than two hours a day on court and two hours a day off-court training, every day?
Also – not like they’re going to be visiting museums or eating out every night or whatever, just because they’re not in quarantine.
Also – they couldn’t train on the actual Melbourne Park courts, they were in various places including a college, which obviously didn’t have the same courts or the same quality courts.
The Hard quarantine players, obviously, will be at a disadvantage.
Plus, you know, the home team has to have SOME advantage, right? 😛
Thanks so much Golden Girl. You are truely golden even if without a pic. That looks like a nice tennis website. Of course, nothing compares to Open Court and Stephanie, but good to have another for tennis.
Serena coach Patrick Mouratoglou owns it. They asked me to join it, especially those video “debates”. But I passed.
I have seen the names of the female players stuck in the hard quarantine but not the male. Do you know their names?
You see the women’s names because they’re all in the same tournament.
I haven’t really kept track, to be honest. I’m sure someone has.
FYI, this article gives an idea of some of the players in hard quarantine (male & female).
https://www.tennismajors.com/news/australian-open-news/australian-open-positive-covid-tests-quarantine-and-players-involved-what-we-know-so-far-316354.html
PS. I put this in a separate comment as comment systems (rightly) tend to hate links but here is a brilliant twitter thread from the Victorian Chief Health Officer explaining the difference between Quarantine and isolation: https://twitter.com/VictorianCHO/status/1348209011754090496
I’ve been following this account for a long time now – every since it became a possibility that I was going to travel here.
Preachy Victorian here with an explaination of the 10 day free issue. We know you hate us preachy Victorian’s, but some of us paid attention and so learnt why someone with the virus is released after 10 days while those that don’t get it have to do 14.
It goes back to the reason for having quarantine. Its about the virus taking up to 14 days to incubate. It also is the case that you can be infectious before you show symptoms and before you test positive. Therefor, when you are coming from an environment where you may have been exposed to the virus, you need to quarantine away from everyone else for 14 days. Its also why, if you are quarantining with another person, if they become positive, you quarantine period restarts (as I understand it).
But what about someone having it being let out after 10 days and not needing to give a negative test? So once you have the virus, the idea is for you to get over it and not be infectious any more. You are no longer considered to be in quarantine but are in isolation. Yes, this is confusing and in many senses, is just what most of us would think of as quarantine anyway! So when are you over it you might ask, wouldn’t that be why you need a negative test? Well, no. As dead virus triggers the test and you can shed dead virus for months after you have the virus, there is little point testing you on the way out of isolation. So the rule in victoria/Australia (assuming you don’t have one of the newer strains seen in UK, South Africa and maybe Brazil (although haven’t heard it mentioned here much yet)) is 10 days from the first sign of symptoms or positive test as long as you have been symptom free for at least 3 days. It is felt by the medical experts that you are over the virus and you aren’t infectious. So whether you have a positive test or not is not really important as, assuming the medical experts are right and they seem to have been so far, you won’t infect anyone.
So while I understand why it is so confusing, there is medical method to this virus madness.
Not sure this helps or is just me being preachy again!
This might shock you, but this is information that’s available to … everyone. Not exclusively preachy Victorians. 😛
But I think you missed the point.
It’s not confusing. What there was, was an absence of transparency or even information.
But, FYI, there is, in fact, a difference in isolation between having the “regular” COVID and one of the new, more contagious strains. At least in terms of the AO.
Which is why Paula Badosa has been trying, without success, to find out which strain she has, to know if she will have an extra 3-4 days to train before the AO or if she’s screwed for the duration.
Also – the health authorities have deviated significantly, in certain areas, from the “Victoria/Australia” guidelines in these particular circumstances – typically tilting towards an abundance of caution.
Hmmm…Can’t really agree, and from your writing you make it sound like it was a huge mystery why the coach was let out after 10 days! So it’s either a huge mystery because, while you keep claiming everyone knows everything (especially yourself), its been my experience people don’t know, or people just don’t care and want everyone to be treated the same reguardles what the health/science says needs to happen!
On the other strains, I did mention that. And we are relying on the word of Paula that she hasn’t been told what stain/handling will take place and to be honest, I haven’t found her to be a very reliable witness to what is going on!
As to the deviation, apart from the cautious approach to the newer strains, the practices haven’t changed much at all!
You’re free to agree or disagree. And your experience is … your experience.
It’s a mystery … because there was an information abyss from the get-go.
Especially in terms of whether or not he had one of the more contagious strains.
And, at the very least, he should have been in as long as all the people whose tournament he compromised. But that’s probably just me. He gets to have a four-day holiday while his player is stuck inside, because of him.
I spoke to Tiley about this today, and he was … somewhat helpful. Without mentioning the coach’s name.
If you want to judge Badosa based on a couple of social media postings, that’s on you. Absent any other information in said abyss, there is nothing to counter it.
And, again, as I mentioned, the practices in Australia writ large and the practices in these particular circumstances do not necessarily always coincide. I can tell you from personal experience, because I’m in the middle of it, that the ground rules have literally changed every single day.
And yes, even if you “haven’t heard it mentioned much yet”, the Brazil strain has been mentioned.
The way it has been going, there will probably be drama right up to the last day of Q, maybe even after it ends!
I have been reading some articles on which players will be playing which warm-up tournaments, but did not see Fernandez’, or Pospisil’s names anywhere. Do you know if they are playing any, or are just going to go into the Oz Open cold turkey. I think Pospisil didn’t play any warm-up tournaments going into the US Open & he did very well there, so thought maybe he is trying the same strategy in Oz. Also, do you know if Bianca will be playing the special tournament for the WTA players in hard Q? Sorry for so many questions, but thought it might help you to pass the time in the days you have left in Q (providing you can get Wifi access!).
Tiley said every single player is playing warmups.
Fernandez is playing the “hard quarantine” event. Pospisil is playing one of the ATP 250s.
So no, it wasn’t a strategy he wanted to repeat.
Tks for the info.