Australian Open: Spain’s Paula Badosa lashes out at her treatment in hotel quarantine

Spain’s Paula Badosa tested positive to COVID-19 after arriving in Australia and has lashed out at her treatment in hotel quarantine.

Spanish tennis player Paula Badosa says she feels “abandoned” by officials during her extended period of quarantine ahead of the Australian Open after testing positive to coronavirus.

Badosa, ranked 67 in the world, was the first player to test positive for the virus upon arrival in Australia ahead of the tournament and cannot leave her hotel room until January 31.

But if she is found to have been infected with the new strain of coronavirus, Badosa will only return to training on February 5, which the Spaniard believes will be too late to regain her fitness.

She railed against her treatment in an interview with Spanish newspaper Marca on Monday and said conditions in her hotel were “lamentable” and the entire period was the worst in her career.

Badosa’s complaints come in the wake of one coach, Edward Elliott, the first person to record a positive coronavirus test among the Australian Open’s charter flight crew, being released from quarantine.

Paula Badosa says she feels ‘abandoned’ in hotel quarantine. Picture: AAP Image/Hamish Blair

“I feel abandoned because I don’t have training equipment which I requested five days ago, I haven’t been told which type of the virus I have, I’ve had no information from the tournament,” Badosa told Marca.

“It’s far and away the worst experience of my career.

“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 metres square.

“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 (for the tournament),” Badosa said.

Badosa said she had been suffering from anxiety and claustrophobia and had been using water bottles as weights to try to stay in shape.

The 23-year-old added that the room, which she is sharing with coach Javier Marti, was not suitable for an elite athlete.

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.

Seventy-two players have been confined to hotel rooms for two weeks after passengers on three charter flights taking them to Australia tested positive.