Azarenka urging quarantine adjustments, no movement from officials

Victoria Azarenka and other players back a "bubble in a bubble" for those in strict quarantine, according to the Belarusian.

There are at least 72 players, including Azarenka, who have been placed in strict quarantine following contact with others who have since tested positive for coronavirus.

"Right now I’m just trying to do the best I can every single day and feel also a bit also optimistic if there is going to be any opportunity for us to have obviously any adjustments, but if not, then it is what it is," Azarenka said, speaking to The Age.

Her fellow competitors are also behind alternatives such as reducing the strict quarantine to 10 days by allowing those players to train with each other, along with regular testing.

"I think we are," she said, adding that she would "take in all the precautions" and was "respectful" of Australia's efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic."

Getty Images

Still, Azarenka argued, Tennis Australia had planned for players in this position and she would like "some sort of approval or reassurance for health administrators" from the state of Victoria.

Azarenka was among the first lot of players to be placed in strict quarantine, where players cannot leave their room to practice for five hours a day like others in the field. "I was a bit down the first day," she said, but is now more positive about the still far from "ideal" conditions.

The two-time Grand Slam champion insisted, like other players, that competitors had not been informed about the possibility of quarantines based on contact with others during the journey. Both Tennis Australia and Victoria officials have said that players were informed.

"The message that it will be up to a health administrator – it’s a bit of a broad message that can have, you know, a different reaction. It can have different answers," she said.

Victoria officials said they are not considering changes.