Quarantine frames: Richard Beranky finally shows off the star, others burp outside the window

Good news for the two Lithuanians who arrived in Australia last week – they weren’t among the 72 who were closed for a 14-day absolute quarantine.

Between 1.2 thousand. five of those who flew to the tournament in Australia tested positive, and all the passengers on those planes were found to be 100% isolated.

Two Lithuanians flew one of the 17 aircraft that passed inspections without problems, so in Melbourne they are entitled to an important condition.

Although R. Berankis and M. Matulionis can also be quarantined for 14 days, they can already leave the hotel for five hours and go to practice.

“This is an opportunity for Ričardas,” says M. Matulionis, who is helping the best Lithuanian tennis player prepare for the Grand Slam tournament, which will begin on February 8.

However, the Lithuanian duo also have concerns.

Milošas Raoničius left an impression

Strict rules also surround those who are most successful on lottery flights to Melbourne.

At the hotel R. Berankis has no right to meet M. Matulionis, although he flew in to be ready to help a 30-year-old tennis player marked by various injuries throughout his career.

“You just can’t move from room to room. I can’t even pass an electrical stimulator or medical glasses, all according to strict rules ” 15 minutes Mr Matulionis said.

In this way, Lithuanians spend most of the day in their rooms, where door organizers deliver food packages and take care of changing garbage bags.

But the tournament organizers are distracted and R. Berankis was given the opportunity to organize the first training session only now, on the fifth day of arrival in Australia.

He trained on the tennis court with Milos Raonichi, a Montenegrin-born and Canadian-born partner who had risen to third place in the world rankings a few years ago.

“It just came to our attention then. A millionaire (M. Raoničius has won about $ 20 million in tennis prizes alone), and M. Matulionis was impressed by his relationship with the tennis star. – Richard has said there are different things in tennis: there are some who were once the same, but after success they rise above the ground. Raoničius is definitely not one of them. “

M. Raoničius laughed and photographed how Lithuanians walk away from the situation after training; In accordance with security protocol, the organizers were unable to comply with M. Matulionis’ request for a massage table. Then R. Berankis’s muscles were exercised only on the floor with a real towel.

Five hours of freedom were spent under strict limits: a two-hour training on the tennis court, then the tennis players accompanied by an escort to the gym, still had time to eat.

When he returns to the rooms, M. Matulionis would like to massage the sore spots on R. Berankis’s body, but he cannot. Unlike M. Raoničius, who settled in a double room with his physiotherapist, Lithuanians will have to wait for the full procedures to take place.

“I was in the Olympics, but tennis is a separate republic. I was hoping that everything was flawless here, but at first impression, the organization of the Olympics in front of the whole head.

In Australia, there is still a wide range of issues, problems that remain unsolved, although there is a lot of effort, it seems that you travel everywhere with a police escort. “

It is true that the air temperature in Australia is favorable, about 20 degrees of heat, which is twice what R. Berankis has suffered during his career on this continent.

What’s worse for other tennis players now: As they approach absolute quarantine, they complain that this has created uneven conditions for preparation, despite the fact that such rules were warned before traveling to Australia.

It is no longer the first month that a 14-day quarantine (for your money in hotels) has been applied to all Australian citizens and temporary residents arriving in the country.

Foreigners can come except in exceptional cases. Regular flights to countries other than New Zealand have been suspended and Australia plans to remain closed until the summer as those safety rules are believed to have helped: to date, there are 909 deaths and 22,000 deaths on the continent. cases of infection are among the lowest in the world.

On the other hand, of those 909 deaths, 809 were registered in the state of Victoria, whose capital is Melbourne, which is one of the reasons why players are locked up under strict rules.

Tennis players and their assistants in Melbourne are tested every day, and psychological tension is in the air: Lithuanians have recently heard screaming and confusion at their hotel, presumably due to a positive test recorded somewhere.

The players, who had to shut down for a full quarantine for 14 days, burped, and Novak Djokovic, who has won the Australian Open eight times, provided a list of ideas to improve the isolation conditions of the players.

Even the famous Serbian has not been heard and can only see from outside how someone plays tennis under the windows of his room.

“People are free to make a list of requirements, but the answer is no,” said Victoria’s Prime Minister Daniel Andrews. “There are no exceptional conditions here, because … the virus doesn’t do them either.”

Also train in the room

When the virus was detected on a flight to Melbourne from Doha on Sunday, the 58 passengers, including 25 players, were added to the list of people who could not leave hotel rooms for two weeks.

Some athletes, such as the Romanian Sorona Cirstea, the Swiss Belinda Bencic or the Kazakh Julia Puniceva, expressed their complaints in social spaces.

“If I had known, I would not have played in Australia. I would have stayed home, ”Cirstea wrote on Twitter, outraged that only 20 percent were on the plane. busy places and the rules state that the 24-hour quarantine is for a person in close contact.

But the Australians explained that when flying for 16-24 hours, the air circulation in the plane means close contact. This was written in the rules.

Players have to come to terms and try to play sports.

Iga Swiatek, a Pole from Poland who won the Roland Garros tournament in Paris last year, shared a video of how cleverly his teammates are trying to keep fit in a small room in Australia.

According to M. Matulionis, one of the players ran many times from the door to the window, running 5 km in ten-meter stretches.

“In the room it is possible to squeeze only up to 50 percent. Preparation, – considered the specialist in sports health. – However, in my opinion, this preparation increases the risk of injury.

This Grand Slam will be fun because of the trauma, the preparation and the psychology. “