Nick Kyrgios joined plenty of Twitter users in criticising Novak Djokovic after the Serbian world number one tennis player reportedly wrote to Tennis Australia organisers asking them to ease quarantine restrictions for players.
Passengers who arrived on three charter flights for the Australian Open have been placed into hard quarantine, including more than 70 players who are unable to train outside their rooms for 14 days before the year’s first Grand Slam starts on February 8.
A Spanish tennis website reported that Djokovic wrote to Tennis Australia boss Craig Tiley with a list of “demands”, asking for reduced isolation periods and having players moved to “private houses with tennis courts”.
“Djokovic is a tool,” Kyrgios, ranked 47th in the world, said on Twitter before taking aim Bernard Tomic’s girlfriend, ‘Love Island’ star Vanessa Sierra.
Sierra complained online that the food served at her and Tomic’s quarantine hotel room was cold and joked about not being able to wash her hair.
“This is the worst part of quarantine,” Sierra said on her YouTube channel. “I don’t wash my own hair. I’ve never washed my own hair. It’s just not something that I do. I normally have hairdressers that do it twice a week for me.
“This is the situation that we’re dealing with. I can’t wait to get out of quarantine just so I can get my hair done.”
Twenty-five-year-old Kyrgios, who has railed at tennis players who have breached COVID-19 protocols since the start of the pandemic, was not amused.
“I don’t mind Bernie but his Mrs obviously has no perspective, ridiculous scenes,” Kyrgios said.
Kyrgios criticised Djokovic time and again in 2020 for organising the Adria Tour exhibition event in the Balkans, where multiple players including the top-ranked Serbian contracted the virus.
Djokovic, who opted to rent a private house instead of staying at a hotel during the 2020 US Open, is among top players who are serving their mandatory quarantine in Adelaide before travelling to Melbourne for the year’s first Grand Slam.
Many Australians have questioned the decision to host the tournament with organisers flying in 1,200 players and their entourages when thousands of citizens are stranded overseas due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Daniel Andrews on Tuesday rejected claims players were not made aware of the risk they may have to adhere to Australia’s strict 14-day hotel quarantine rule.
“They knew what they were travelling into and we are not cutting corners or making special arrangements,” he told reporters.
“Any suggestion that if a person on your flight tested positive that you somehow would get a leave pass from hard quarantine, that suggestion is simply wrong.”
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said players need to “do their quarantine and play tennis”.
“It’s time for people to follow the rules,” he told Sydney’s 2GB Radio.
“They’ll get paid well for it. I’m sure they’ll put on a great spectacle and the Australian Open will go ahead.”
With files from Reuters.
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