Paula Badosa arrived in Melbourne after playing in Abu Dhabi earlier this month and was on her seventh day in quarantine when her test came back positive; The Spaniard has described hard quarantine as "far and away the worst experience of my career"
Tuesday 26 January 2021 12:13, UK
Paula Badosa described her extended period of quarantine ahead of the Australian Open following a positive coronavirus test as the worst moment of her career, adding she felt abandoned by organisers.
The Spaniard, ranked 67 in the world, was the first player to test positive for the virus upon arrival in Australia ahead of the tournament and cannot leave her hotel room until January 31 with the opening Grand Slam of the year starting on February 8.
If she is found to have been infected with the new strain of coronavirus, Badosa will only return to training on February 5 which she believes will be too late to regain her fitness.
"I feel abandoned because I don't have training equipment which I requested five days ago, I haven't been told which type of the virus I have, I've had no information from the tournament," Badosa told Spanish newspaper Marca.
"It's far and away the worst experience of my career.
"The conditions here are lamentable, I wasn't expecting that. The number one thing people recommend when you have the virus is to open the windows to let in air, but I don't have windows in my hotel room and it's barely 15 metres square."
Badosa said she had been suffering from anxiety and claustrophobia and using water bottles as weights to try to stay in shape.
The 23-year-old added that the room, which she is sharing with coach Javier Marti, was not suitable for an elite athlete.
"I have lost a lot of my fitness levels, especially my strength. If I can come out on January 31 I'll have a week to get in shape. If it's February 5 it'll be impossible to recover in time (for the tournament)," Badosa said.
"Our priority is supporting the health and wellbeing of those in our care and reducing the risk of transmission to protect staff and community safety," a COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria (CQV) spokesperson said.
"We are supporting the delivery of exercise equipment wherever possible and safe to do so from both a health and IPC (infection prevention and control) perspective.
"CQV is in ongoing discussions with Tennis Australia about suitable equipment that can be delivered to positive and symptomatic residents, given that the equipment cant be reused and would need to be safely destroyed."
A total of 72 players have been confined to hotel rooms for two weeks after passengers on three charter flights taking them to Australia had tested positive.
CQV said earlier there were no further positive tests among the 970-strong Australian Open contingent to report on Tuesday, leaving just the nine already confirmed cases.
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