Australian Open boss Craig Tiley on Tuesday (Jan 19) insisted most players supported being locked down in hard quarantine as a government official reported three new cases of Covid-19 that might be linked to the Grand Slam.

More than 70 players and their entourages are confined to their hotel rooms for 14 days and unable to train for the Feb 8-21 Australian Open after passengers on three charter flights returned positive tests for the coronavirus.

Some players have complained about the conditions, and men’s world No. 1 Novak Djokovic sent governing body Tennis Australia requests for quarantine restrictions to be eased, drawing a backlash from Australians.

Costa’s countryman Roberto Bautista Agut, however, described the situation as a “complete disaster”.

“It’s like (being) in a jail,” Bautista Agut, ranked 13th, told Israeli television channel Sport 5. “It’s the same (as being in prison), but with Wifi.”

“If you’ve got say 30 people who are deemed a close contact because they’ve been on a plane with a case, and the case is no longer an active case, but an historic shedding, well then, that would release those people from that hard lockdown,” Andrews said.