Belarus star Victoria Azarenka calls for calm amid Australian Open quarantine wildfire
Belarus star Victoria Azarenka has made a passionate plea to all Australian Open contestants to "accept, adapt and keep moving", amid the wildfire surrounding the 14-day lockdown in which many of them are trapped.
A total of 72 players are now under strict two-week quarantine measures that have confined them to their hotel rooms, after three of the 17 charter flights were found to be affected by COVID-19.
Roberto Bautista Agut, Fabio Fognini, Pablo Carreno Busta and, extraordinarily, even the partner of Australian tennis bad boy Bernard Tomic - Vanessa Sierra - are among the men and women who've slammed the quarantine.
Belarus tennis star Victoria Azarenka. Getty
World No.1 Novak Djokovic even weighed in to the debate despite not being in lockdown, issuing a wish-list on behalf of the Australian Open competitors forced into quarantine.
Djokovic's audacious suggestion was met with a blunt rejection from Victorian premier Dan Andrews.
MORE TENNIS NEWS: Nick Kyrgios calls Novak Djokovic 'a tool' after Australian Open quarantine wish-list
Azarenka took to Twitter to encourage fellow grand slam contestants, the media and the community to be "understanding".
"We have a global pandemic, nobody has a clear playbook of how to operate at full capacity and without a glitch, we all have seen it last year," a part of Azarenka's post read.
"I would like to ask all my colleagues for cooperation, understanding and empathy for the local community that has been going through a lot of very demanding restrictions that they did not choose, but were forced to follow.
"I would like to ask to be sensitive as well to the people who have lost their jobs and loved ones during this horrible time for all of us around the world.
"I would like to ask all of us to have for people who work tirelessly to try to make our lives easier."
Former American tennis star Pam Shriver replied with: "spot on Vika thank you!! We all can still count our blessings and gratitude today and every day. PS".
Former Australian No.1 doubles hero Rennae Stubbs retweeted the post and dropped the hashtag "class".
The Australian Open is set to take place from February 8-21 at Melbourne Park.
