With several dozen Australian Open tennis pros in quarantine, Novak Djokovic has reportedly made some ridiculous demands ahead of the tournament.

The 2021 Australian Open is scheduled to start on Monday, February 8th, but the lead up to the year’s first Grand Slam has been a bit of a fustercluck to say the least.

Despite all the protocols and measures put into place, several dozen tennis pros have had to go into mandatory quarantine for 14 days due to a number of positive COVID-19 cases and many aren’t too happy with it, especially with the quality of food being served to them.

Now world number one and reigning Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic has decided to chime in on the matter by reportedly making six ridiculous quarantine demands in a misguided attempt to improve the conditions of those competing in the upcoming Grand Slam tournament.

According to Spanish tennis website Punto de Break (via SBS The Feed), Djokovic reportedly sent a letter to Australian Open tournament director, Craig Tiley, that had six demands:

  • Fitness and training material in all rooms
  • Decent food, according to the level of the tournament and from an elite athlete
  • Reduce the days of isolation for the isolated players, carrying out more tests that confirm that all are negative
  • Permission to visit your coach or physical trainer, as long as both have passed the PCR (tests)
  • If the previous proposal has the green light, that both the player and coach are on the same floor of the hotel
  • Move as many players as possible to private houses with a court to train

This didn’t exactly go down well with many Aussies as Djokovic become a controversial figure after outing himself as an anti-vaxxer. Then there was his ill-fated Adira Tour that resulted in several positive COVID-19 cases due to the lack of social distancing or safety measures being implemented.

Throw in the fact that Aussies still can’t travel anywhere and the many Aussies who are stuck overseas while hundreds of tennis players and their teams are able to fly Down Under to play a Grand Slam, it all comes off pretty poorly for Djokovic.

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Clearly he didn’t learn from the whole Danni Minogue quarantine situation and one just needs to search up “Novak Djokovic” on Twitter to see how pissed people are at his demands.

“Novak Djokovic. I’ve lost my career. Hundreds of thousands have lost their lives. Economies and industries have collapsed. The world is in turmoil. You have millions, you have your health. Shut up and eat the food for 14 days or take a year off you ungrateful cunt. Nobody cares,” wrote one disgrunted Twitter user.

“Considering the man’s track record on COVID, I’m only surprised ‘let all the players visit nightclubs and have dance parties’ wasn’t on the list,” wrote journalist Josh Butler.

COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria Commissioner Emma Casser wasn’t amused with Djokovic’s demands, saying on 3AW: “It’s a firm NO from me.”

Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews wasn’t impressed either, saying (as per news.com.au): “The rules apply to them as they apply to everybody else and they were all briefed on that before they came … There’s no special treatment here.”

The 2021 Australian Open starts on Monday, February 8th, so it looks like all those tennis pros in quarantine will have to make do with what they got for now because there’s no time for any entitled behaviour while a pandemic is still raging on.

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