On Sunday morning in his resort room in Melbourne, Rohan Bopanna obtained two messages. He was ready for the primary, which confirmed he had examined ‘negative’ for Covid-19 when he landed within the metropolis to compete within the Australian Open. The second was a reason behind fear.
One of the passengers on his flight from Doha, QR7485, had examined constructive for Coronavirus, which meant all travellers on that airplane could be despatched right into a strict quarantine.
“One positive COVID-19 test has been returned from a passenger on a charter flight into Melbourne from Doha which arrived at 5:30 AM on 16 January,” the Australian Open tweeted a number of hours later.
“The 25 players on the flight will not be able to leave their hotel room for 14 days and until they are medically cleared. They will not be eligible to practise.”
Bopanna, India’s highest ranked doubles participant, World No.38, is now among the many 72 gamers that might be pressured to bear a tough quarantine. The record contains, however will not be restricted to, the likes of former World No.4 Kei Nishikori, former World No 1s Victoria Azarenka and Angelique Kerber, and 2017 and 2019 US Open champions Sloane Stephens and Bianca Andreescu respectively.
“I got my test result this morning, which said ‘negative,’” Bopanna advised The Indian Express. “But by now we all know that it’s not just your test result, everybody on the plane you were on needs to have tested negative.”
It is the fourth constructive case so removed from the 15 chartered flights that arrived in Melbourne carrying gamers to the yr’s first Grand Slam. On Saturday, two individuals, together with a flight crew member, examined constructive on flight QR7493 from Los Angeles. Just a few hours later, Andresscu’s coach, Sylvain Bruneau, who was aboard EY8004 from Abu Dhabi additionally examined constructive. No participant has examined constructive up to now.
Bopanna’s coach Scott Davidoff was additionally on the flight from Los Angeles, and also will serve the 14-day arduous quarantine.Tennis Australia, organisers of the key, had secured a rest from the Victorian Government to permit gamers to go away their resort rooms for 5 hours a day to coach and follow in the course of the 14-day interval. The 72 who have been on board the three flights although is not going to be allowed to go away their rooms in any respect.
“We were aware that there was a possibility of (someone testing positive on the flight). What we didn’t know is that the entire flight would be quarantined,” Bopanna says. “We had zones on the flight. There was nobody in my row, or in the rows in front or behind me. If you were in one zone, you couldn’t go to another. It was maintained like that so that if someone tested positive, maybe the people near that person or just that zone (could be put into isolation). But now the entire flight is being quarantined.”
He’s bought one other “12 days” (he laments) to kill earlier than he can go away his room and put together for the Slam.
“I’ll have to try and have a basic routine. I have my yoga stuff and some fitness bands. I have to do things to make sure the mind is occupied. Maybe some online courses, or if the mood requires it, watch some good Hindi movies,” he says.
“Luckily the (Australia vs India Test) was on and India was batting well, so I watched that. But watching television is only interesting if there is live sport on. There is a Manchester United match (against Liverpool), but that’ll be around three in the morning. But maybe I’ll put an alarm on and watch it. I have nowhere else to go.”
One of his favorite issues to do is to discover the cities he’s travelled to. But until January 29, his room is as a lot of Australia as he’ll get to see.
“Of course, there are a couple of corners in the room which I haven’t explored,” he says calmly. “Now I’ll have time to do that.”
