Last year’s Davis Cup champion and world number 13 player Roberto Bautista Agut has criticized Victorian government’s restrictive quarantine protocols in an interview to Israeli television Channel 5. The Spanish player likened the hotel quarantine in Melbourne ahead of the Australian Open to prison with the added benefit of WIFI.
Bautista Agut is one of the 72 players in a 14-day quarantine following positive tests on three of the chartered flights to Melbourne. Players are unable to leave their hotel rooms for any reason, including to train for the Australian Open.
Victoria’s health department officials announced that two players had returned positive tests on Tuesday.
“It’s the same, with WIFI. The Melbourne hotel quarantine looked like a prison. These people have no idea about anything. It’s a complete disaster because of that, because of the control of everything. You can work in the room, but it is not the same. I cannot imagine staying for two weeks like this. I will have to work a lot mentally. The control of everything isn’t Tennis Australia. It’s with the government”, said Bautista Agut.
Bautista Agut reached the quarter final at the Australian Open in 2019 and his career-high in a Grand Slam tournament at Wimbledon later that year, when he qualified for the semifinals.
