Hosting tennis stars presents the same risk to Victoria that accepting repatriation flights does to the NT, and whinging players need a big reality check
ALLOWING Australian Open tennis players into Victoria is no different to the NT accepting repatriation flights. The main difference is those in Howard Springs don’t have the platform to whinge about the lack of hairdressers and gourmet meals during their quarantine, writes DENISE CAHILL.
Opinion
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ALLOWING Australian Open tennis players into Victoria is no different to the Northern Territory accepting repatriation flights.
We knew there would be new coronavirus cases by accepting these people into our country.
But, in both cases, there are strict quarantine rules in place to ensure no cases get out into the community.
The main difference is: those in Howard Springs don’t have the platform to whinge about the lack of hairdressers and gourmet meals during their two-week quarantine.
Although, two graduates from the international side of Howard Springs were recently overheard at a Waterfront restaurant telling a waiter they had recently been living in Germany.
This was after they “tasted” several wines before choosing a bottle.
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One would assume these people were accustomed to a standard of living much higher than that offered at the former workers’ camp in Howard Springs.
Yet they, to an extent, swallowed their pride and made the choice to endure and pay for the strict 14 days of quarantine to ensure they made it back to Aussie soil.
This is where our international tennis stars need a reality check.
They are lucky to have the opportunity to play their sport during a global pandemic.
Those who travelled from overseas were over there playing in tournaments.
Sure, some needed to get some wins on the board overseas to qualify for the Australian grand slam, but there was never going to be a smooth arrival into a country that has put whole cities in to lockdown to fight this beast of a disease.
What the constant whinging by tennis players does prove, though, is that Australia has some of the toughest, yet most successful, measures in place to keep community coronavirus numbers low … and now the whole world knows it.
Broadcaster and writer Titus O’Reily, in an open letter to tennis players in lockdown, first empathised with the players in lockdown (being from Melbourne), but then threw some clever barbs their way.
“I know it must feel like no one understands what you’re going through, but I promise, Melburnians do have some sense of it,” he wrote on titusoreily.com.
“We went through a few lockdowns this year, including one that lasted three months.
“It was a dark time for all of us, and weirdly, we’re not too keen on risking that happening again, even for a tennis tournament.
“Our long lockdown also means we look at your two weeks in quarantine much like a marathon runner looks at someone walking from the couch to the fridge.
“Sure, I get after two weeks you have to play tennis and we didn’t, but we had our own problems with conditioning.
“During my three-month lockdown, I spoke to no adults face-to-face, then I was suddenly allowed out and I wasn’t conditioned for social interaction.
“My first interaction went like this: Shop assistant: ‘Can I help you, sir?’ Me: ‘Hold me.’ Shop assistant: ‘Please stop sobbing sir.’
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“So, while I get you’re in a tough place, sometimes it’s worth figuring out what people other than yourselves have been through or are currently going through, and realise that while your situation is not perfect, you’re not going through one of the greatest injustices of human history.”
You can bet every player who makes a first-round exit will blame the lack of five-star service in hotel quarantine, but they’ll still walk away with their $100,000 – and Australia will still be fighting the pandemic better than their country ever will.
Denise Cahill is the Head of News at the NT News.
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