It’s amazing, but not a day goes by without a scandal surrounding tennis players preparing in strange conditions for the first big tournament of 2021 – the Australian Open. The new one is around Diana Jastremska, who is in Melbourne, although … she is not allowed to play in the Australian open.
The Ukrainian, number 29 in the world rankings, was punished on January 7 for a positive doping test with an anabolic substance. She is appealing the sanction to the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and plans to do the same before the Sports Arbitration Court in Lausanne.
But her appeal to the ITF was rejected on Friday, and it turns out that Yastremska is still in Melbourne, in one of the tennis players’ hotels for the tournament and among those under the strictest quarantine.
There are many absurdities – she is somehow included in the list for one of the charters that flew from Abu Dhabi to Melbourne. However, on her flight there was a person who gave a positive test on arrival and the Ukrainian became one of the 72 athletes, coaches and people around the race who were isolated under the strictest measures for the second week due to close contact with an infected person.
Thus, she cannot go out and train, and in fact should not have such an opportunity after the end of the quarantine – according to ITF rules, a competitor with a doping penalty not to play in a particular tournament, can not be admitted to the complex for workouts in the days before it.
It is not at all clear how and why Yastremska traveled, even if she hoped for the success of her complaint. If the appeal was approved by the International Federation, it would still have to go through the WADA Anti-Doping Agency, and it would be difficult to expect the penalty to be lifted by February 8, when the Australian Open begins.
The scandal sparked a statement by Richard Ings, who until recently was head of the Australian Anti-Doping Agency and is now a consultant to Tennis Australia, the local federation.
“This should not have been allowed, she has nothing to do here at all and she should not have traveled – said the expert. – If the hearing was before she flew away, and had a positive outcome for her, then I accept. But not to fly with the other competitors, to stay at the hotel with them when she is punished and removed from competitions.
In addition, we pay for her travel and stay, we have taken full quarantine of all tennis players as an expense. This is downright offensive to Australian tennis. Why pay the expenses of someone who is here without the right to play ?! Did she come to Australia on holiday? Although that doesn’t make sense either, as she sits locked in a hotel room … “
Two of the country’s most popular sports presenters, David Lowe and Catherine Whitaker, raised the issue on their Sunday night radio show.
“No one can explain why Jastremska is in Australia, how she got on the travel and stay lists – said Vaticer. – I saw photos of her with Kuznetsova, Kerber and Kirstea from their flight, some of them don’t even wear masks. They travel as if on vacation. It’s all terribly offensive to the effort being made to have a tournament at all. “
“A punished player who spends 20 days at the expense of our tennis federation, knowing that he has no right to play – this is complete nonsense!”, Lowe erupted.
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