Australian Open 2021: "Players and coaches are privileged to get this chance"
What is the daily routine of players and coaches in Melbourne who have been spared positive corona tests on the plane and are allowed to train five hours a day? Tour coach Sascha Nensel with a situation report.
by Sascha Nensel from Melbourne
last edit: Jan 25, 2021, 12:40 pm
I am currently in Melbourne with our player Sumit Nagal and we are in the 14-day quarantine before the tournaments in Melbourne. We were lucky: there were no positive corona tests on our flight from Dubai to Melbourne, we are allowed to leave our rooms and train for five hours a day.
The daily routine: a fitness session of 90 minutes, a tennis session of 120 minutes and a refreshment station of 60 minutes. 30 minutes are taken into account for the transport from the hotel to the facility and back. The training times for the next day can be viewed online in the evening. There we are also informed whether we are going to the gym or the tennis court first. The tennis court and gym are reserved in advance for each training group according to a fixed schedule. We train in the national tennis center, right next to the main facility - sometimes outdoors, sometimes indoors, we have no influence on the division.
Temporary gym areas have been set up in an underground car park that can be used with a permanent training partner and coach. There we work through the programs of the fitness trainers, on the training field we discuss the content of the 120 minutes with the training partner and his coach. During the final meal, which is served in open tents on the complex, we enjoy the last minutes of the five-hour day before we go back to our room.
# IMG2 #
"Extraordinary Measures"
We are tested daily in our hotel room, the food is put in front of our room door every day. All in all, the organizers have to be congratulated for their performance in getting something like this off the ground. In these times, extraordinary measures are required to realize such an event. It is clear to us: All players and coaches are privileged to have the chance to contest such a unique path to the first Grand Slam of the year.
Of course, many thoughts also go to the players and their supervisors, who do not have the chance to leave their rooms in the first 14 days. I hope everyone will survive this time well and find happiness on their side again at the latest at the Australian Open.
We are already on day 10 and look forward to being able to walk freely through this beautiful city again soon - this is allowed in Melbourne after 14 days of quarantine without a positive corona test. I think that the tension and hope for a successful sporting time is slowly increasing for all participants.
Sascha Nensel is co-owner and sports director of the Nensel Academy in Peine. On the tour he worked for a long time with Nicolas Kiefer and Julia Görges, among others.