Had to check out the scene myself at the Park Hotel where Djokovic is being detained and where his supporters have gathered to protest his impending deportation for being unvaccinated. #AusOpen
Crucially, the Park Hotel has also been used to detain refugees seeking asylum, some of whom have been imprisoned there for years.
This woman was understandably furious with the smattering of media there for only caring about detainees at the Park Hotel when one of them happens to be a tennis champion. #AusOpen
There were probably about 15 in each group.
I wasn’t there long, only saw one encounter between the pro-refugee protesters and the pro-Djokovic protesters…when a woman wrapped in a Serbian flag accosted one of the pro-refugee protesters for wearing a mask during the pandemic.
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In addition to purportedly getting a PCR test for Covid that came back positive, Djokovic also was part of a maskless, indoor panel discussion and attended a maskless, indoor ceremony for a stamp being made in his honor on that day.
A positive test on December 16 would have come too late for the Tennis Australia exemption process deadline as described to players.
According to Tennis Australia documents, the deadline for applying for an exemption had been nearly a week earlier, “no later than” December 10.
People find that satisfying? A super-talented young player emerges and plays 2.5 hours of jaw-dropping, world-beating tennis…and then enough time passes for regression to the mean and normal programming resumes, and it’s deflating. Djokovic earns the win, sure, but yawn.
Part of the appeal of sports, I truly believe, is that anything can happen. The any given Sunday principle that sees things like Mickelson winning in his 50s.
In men’s tennis at Slams, the margins are just too big to ever derail the top guys, and it’s cruise control to a fault.
Thankfully for tennis, the ATP and ITF have seen the light here, retiring the obsolete best-of-five format at Olympics, ATP finals, Masters finals, and Davis Cup.
When the best deal Grand Slam tennis can get is Peacock, it’s time for the Slams to see the writing on the wall too.
OK, so here is the story of Sam Querrey fleeing Russia after testing positive for coronavirus:
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49th-ranked Sam Querrey entered the ATP 500 St. Petersburg, and was slated to face second-seeded Denis Shapovalov in the first round of the main draw.
Before that match, however, Sam tested positive for coronavirus.
So, too, did Sam's wife, Abby, and eight-month-old son, Ford.
The three Querreys were instructed to quarantine for 14 days at their hotel in St. Petersburg.
As the St. Petersburg Four Seasons is famous across the tour for being fancy as all heck, this was something the Querrey family was purportedly very ready to obligingly do.
Sascha Zverev six days ago after Adria Tour coronavirus cluster:
“I deeply apologize to anyone that I have put at risk...I will proceed to follow self-isolating guidelines...stay safe 🙏.”
Sascha Zverev four hours ago:
This is my concern with tennis attempting to come back mid-pandemic: not that precautions can’t be taken, but that too many tennis players are conditioned to be wildly self-centered and have no concept of how to act for the greater interest of a larger group.
Philipp Plein has already deleted the frame of his Instastory that most clearly showed Zverev partying today.
No matter how lazy, sloppy and selfish players are about following public health guidelines mid-pandemic, they sure can spring to quick action to cover their asses.🥳😐