Hungary’s Timea Babos says she will not play at next month’s Australian Open due to uncertainty over the procedures regarding COVID-19.
The 28-year-old former world No.1 doubles player issued a statement on Instagram in which she said she, ‘cannot identify with the Australian government’s COVID-19 measures.’ Players attending the Melbourne major in 2022 are required to be double vaccinated against the virus unless they are eligible for a medical exemption. The Australian Open is the first Grand Slam in history to make a vaccination mandatory in order to play but the rules have been implemented due to a ruling by the Victorian government which is the region where the tournament is held in.
However, it appears that Babos’ decision not to play isn’t due to her vaccination status. Instead, she says the rules regarding potential positive cases at the event have not been made clear and there is a lot of ambiguity. During an interview with Hungarian newspaper Blikk, the tennis star says the threat of possible quarantine and the ongoing developments regarding the virus has put her off attending. Health officials are currently researching a new strain of the virus called Omicron, which has been confirmed as more transmittable but no evidence has suggested that it is more severe than the Delta variant so far with some suggesting the opposite.
“I’m not financially well with this decision, but money, success is not everything,” Babos told Blikk. “I simply cannot identify with the Australian Government’s epidemiological measures, the possible quarantine obligation, and the Covid camps are also deterred. What happens if there is a case of coronavirus in the tournament? Are contacts being blocked again or excluded from the competition like at the 2020 US Open? There is no regular information about this, so all the hard work would go to the trash if you had to spend two weeks in quarantine.”
This year’s Australian Open required players to enter into a two-week quarantine upon arrival in the country. However, Tennis Australia confirmed this will not happen again with players just required to take a COVD-19 test before and on arrival. Furthermore, New South Wales has issued guidance saying fully vaccinated people arriving in the state must self-isolate for 72 hours but it is unclear if players will be exempt from this.
“Last year, the whole tournament wasn’t exactly the best, I was only let out of my hotel room for five hours a day, which had to include training, conditioning and meals,” Babos reflected. “They promise it will be different now, but that’s not how I see it when I read the news. I’m sorry it turned out that way, but I think I made a good decision.”
Babos won the women’s Australian Open doubles title in 2018 and 2020 with Kristina Mladenovic and the duo also reached the final in 2019. It is the first time she has missed the tournament since 2012.
According to Blikk, Babos caught COVID-19 twice this year.
