No qualms about quarantine, but Alexander Zverev bemoans Adelaide ‘freedom’ for top players

Shahida Jacobs
January 30, 2021

Alexander Zverev insists tennis players “shouldn’t complain too much” about the quarantine restrictions that were in place ahead of the Australian Open, but believes Tennis Australia made a mistake with “the Adelaide thing for top players”.

Foreign players competing in the 2021 season-opening Grand Slam were all forced to travel to Australia on chartered flights and upon arrival they had to self-isolate for 14 days. After a few positive coronavirus cases, some had to go into hard lockdown for two weeks.

The majority of players spent the period in Melbourne, but a handful of the world’s best players, including Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka and Simona Halep were in lockdown in Adelaide due to an exhibition event that was due to be staged there.

After one or two murmurs about the extra privileges, including longer hours on the practice court, given to the Adelaide group, Australian Open Tournament Director Craig Tiley defended the decision as “it’s just the nature of the business”.

Australian Open boss defends ‘better deal’ for the likes of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams

Zverev, though, feels Tennis Australia got it wrong.

“I think maybe the only real mistake that there was was the Adelaide thing for top players,” the German said.

“Because they did get more practice time, they did get more freedom. But other than that, the quarantine and the flights, we have to accept that.

“We have to understand that Australia doesn’t have any COVID cases at all except for us tennis players and … we shouldn’t complain too much about the circumstances.”

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Alexander Zverev