Spanish tennis player Paula Badosa has described her time in hotel quarantine as the worst experience of her career, saying she felt “abandoned” by Australian Open organisers.
Badosa, ranked 67th in the world, was the first player to test positive for coronavirus upon arriving in Australia ahead of the tournament and she has been in quarantine in Melbourne along with about 70 other players.
The 23-year-old said she had suffered from anxiety and claustrophobia, and has been using water bottles as weights to try to stay in shape.
“I feel abandoned because I don’t have training equipment which I requested five days ago,” she told Spanish newspaper Marca on Jan. 25.
“I haven’t been told which type of the virus I have, I’ve had no information from the tournament.”
Badosa added that the room, which she is sharing with coach Javier Marti, was not suitable for an elite athlete.
“It’s far and away the worst experience of my career,” she said.
“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 square metres.”
Badosa is due to leave quarantine on Jan. 31, but if if she is found to have the new strain of the virus then it will be Feb. 5. The tournament is due to begin on Feb. 8.
“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.”
Australian Open organisers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Spaniard 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.
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.
Last week, Kazakhstan’s world No.28 Yulia Putintseva complained she had been struggling to sleep in her hotel room due to rodents scurrying around.
