2021 Australian Open

The Aussie Open Quarantine Experience Or A Jail With WIFI

The Aussie Open Quarantine Experience Or A Jail With WIFI

The Aussie Open Quarantine Experience Or A Jail With WIFI

Spanish player Roberto Bautista Agut has termed the Aussie quarantine experience a ā€œjail but with Wifiā€ before apologising for his comments.

2021 Australian Open Quarantine Formula

Each player flying into Australia aboard one of the assigned fifteen chartered flights bringing in all the people involved in the slam would have to be in quarantine for fourteen days despite having a negative test before boarding. Players are permitted five hours of freedom per day for training.

Despite those stringent measures, at least ten people (including coaches, players, staff etc), spread across three flights, tested positive once they landed in Australian. As a result, all 72 people aboard those 3 chartered flights were put into a full quarantine, and they were denied the 5 training hours also.

The anxieties of competing in a Grand Slam just a few days after the stringent quarantine, coupled with the fact that some players get to practice 5 hours a day and some don’t has caused resentment among some players.

Amid all this, positive mindedness has prevailed with some players as they have found a way to get the best out of whatever they have in the roomā€”be it hitting against the wall, mattresses or curtains.

For those 72 players who are in the stringest form of quarantine, a knock on the room door usually means either a RT-PCR test or a delivery of food or some other essential.

The Difference Between a Bio Bubble and Quarantine

The days building into the 2021 Australian Open, scheduled for February 8, has presented a peculiar situation for the worldā€™s tennis pros, a fourteen-day hard quarantine period that had quite a few players expressing their displeasure. The 2021 Australian Open is unlike the prior 2 Grand Slams which were also held in this Pandemic era, New York (US Open) and Paris (French Open). Those 2 grand slams of 2020 had bio bubbles, one where after a negative test and certain hours of isolation, players could step out of their rooms and head to the courts to practice. Those were bubbles, on the contrary the 2021 Australian Open has what can be called a proper quarantine.

Sources: HindustanTimes

Hashtags: #Quarantine #BioBubble #AustralianOpen

Can Medvedev Change This in 2021

Djokovic Dominates Aussie Open & Nadal Rules at Roland Garros | Can Medvedev Change This in 2021?

Djokovic Dominates Aussie Open & Nadal Rules at Roland Garros | Can Daniil Medvedev Change This in 2021?

Rafael Nadal finding it ā€˜difficultā€™ to ā€˜solveā€™ the Novak Djokovic riddle on Australian Open hard courts.

It quite similar to how Novak Djokovic would feel against Rafael Nadal on clay courts – especially Roland Garros.

Rafael Nadal is yet to overcome the Novak Djokovic challenge on the Australian Open hard courts”, in the words of former WTA world No 1 Lindsay Davenport.

The duo met in the final of the Australian Open in 2019, but Djokovic demolished his fierce rival 6ā€“3, 6ā€“2, 6ā€“3 in just over 2 hours while their only other encounter in Melbourne Park was way back at the 2012 final when Djokovic won a five-setter in a marathon 5 hours and 53 minutes.

The overall hard-court head to head statistics are also pointing clearly in favour of the Serb as he leads the head-to-head count 20-7.

Defending champion Djokovic will be eyeing his 9th title in Melbourne at the 2021 Australian Open and many believe Nadal will again be his toughest road block, but Davenport feels the Spaniard is yet to device a game plan to beat the world No 1 in Australia.

It just seems like when Rafa gets to the end of the tournament and he has to face the world no. 1 Novak Djokovic his body is held up. Novakā€™s a superior hard-court player in those conditions for some strange reason and itā€™s been tough for Rafa to solve that.

Renowned tennis coach Paul Annacone also acknowledges that he wonā€™t bet on Rafael Nadal to win the 2021 Australian Open should the 20-time Grand Slam winner face Djokovic in any round. The only miracle that could work in Nadal’s favor is that he doesn’t have to face Novak at any stage. In other words a 2021 Australian Open final with Nadal facing any other opponent other than Djockovic is the only scenario when the Spaniard can add one more to his 20 titles.

ā€œI think very simply, Rafa is just a little bit worse on hard court than Novak in particular and Roger [Federer] as well on a faster hard court,ā€ he said. ā€œBut everyone else Iā€™d put him ahead of. If he plays Novak at the end of the tournament, Iā€™m not betting on him. But if he plays anyone else Iā€™ll bet on him. I think the biggest thing for Nadal is to get through the first week relatively comfortablyā€ in the words of coach Paul Annacone.

Hashtags: #Rafa #Tennis #Djokovic #Medvedev