Seven-time Australian Open singles champion Serena Williams has backed Tennis Australia's quarantine rules ahead of the season-opening major amid criticism of the arrangements from other players.
Williams has been quarantining in Adelaide, as have the likes of Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, and has been spared the hard 14-day lockdown that has affected 72 players who arrived in Melbourne almost a fortnight ago.
Several players based in Melbourne have publicly voiced their frustration about being confined to their rooms after passengers on the charter flights that carried them to Australia tested positive for COVID-19.
Spanish tennis player Paula Badosa slammed Australian Open organisers earlier this week, describing her extended period of hotel quarantine following a positive coronavirus test as "the worst experience" of her career.
After the 14-day isolation, players will be allowed to train normally and then compete at lead-up events next week.
Williams, speaking from her Adelaide hotel room on the US TV program The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, did not take aim at her fellow players for criticising quarantine conditions.
But she said she supported Tennis Australia's stance on player quarantine ahead of the Open, which begins at Melbourne Park on February 8.
"They're doing it right," said Williams, who travelled to Australia with her young daughter Olympia.
"It's definitely hard with a three-year-old to be in the hotel all day, but it's worth it because you want everyone to be safe at the end of the day."
Williams, who will be chasing a record-equalling 24th major singles title at Melbourne Park, described the quarantine rules for players as "super, super strict".
"It's insane and super intense but it's super good, because, after that you can have a new normal like what we were used to last year this time in the United States," she said.
www.abc.net.au
