Dominic Thiem, Serena Williams excited to play at Adelaide’s Day at the Drive

Tennis superstars quarantining in Adelaide say they are excited to play in front of a crowd again at Memorial Drive, as they praised the tough virus laws.

World No. 3 Dominic Thiem says he is “super excited” to play tennis again in front of a crowd when he gets out of quarantine to play in the Day at the Drive on Friday.

The 2020 US Open winner is set to get out of quarantine on Friday after 14 days in a North Adelaide hotel room.

Within hours of being let out, the 27-year-old will face off against World No. 2 Rafael Nadal in the night session of the exhibition event at Memorial Drive in front of 4000 fans.

It will be the largest crowd Thiem would have played in front of since the Rio Open nearly 12 months ago.

Thiem had to play much of his tennis in front of no fans in 2020 because of COVID-19. Picture: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

“Yeah of course it is the first day out of quarantine, the first match in front of a crowd for a long time so I’m super excited,” he said.

In his first match since the ATP Tour Finals in November, Thiem will be hoping for a third straight win over Nadal having defeated him in London and en route to the final at the Australian Open last year.

“It’s always something special (playing Nadal), whether it is in a real tournament or exhibition. it is going to be great hopefully,” he said.

Serena Williams, also quarantining in Adelaide, said she was extremely excited about the prospect of playing in front of fans again.

“I also to get to play a real match which is good because any match I can play now I can be sore now and I can be ready for the event (the Australian Open) so playing a match is super important,” she said.

Serena Williams talking about Australian quarantine on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Picture: CBS

Williams, along with Nadal, has lauded the tough Australian quarantine laws which have divided the tennis community.

Williams, who is seeking to equal Margaret Court’s record of 24 grand slam titles at Melbourne Park, described the lockdown experience as “insane and super intense”.

“It’s (quarantine rules) super, super strict. But, it’s really good. So, Australia right now has, the last I heard, zero cases of Covid. So that is unbelievable, right? That is really amazing,” she said.

”So, when we come here in Australia, everyone has to quarantine in a room for 14 days. It’s insane and super intense but it’s super good because after that you can have a new normal like we were used to last time this year in the United States.”

Williams, 39, has her three-year-old daughter Olympia with her in Adelaide and is training alongside her older sister Venus.

Adelaide International Tournament Director Alistair MacDonald said the tennis superstars had missed playing in front of crowds for much of 2020.

“At the end of the day they are not only sportspeople they are entertainers and I think they are going to love playing in front of people,” he said.

“We will have 75 per cent here at the drive, which we have worked really hard on getting with SA health and everyone else.”

Originally published as Dominic Thiem, Serena Williams excited to play at Adelaide’s Day at the Drive