AFP, Adelaide :
A relieved Serena Williams took her daughter to the zoo Friday and Novak Djokovic was happy to simply walk barefoot in a park as the stars of tennis emerged from a fortnight of quarantine.
More than 1,000 players, coaches and officials jetted into largely virus-free Australia this month for 14 days’ lockdown ahead of the opening Grand Slam of the year, with most allowed out for just five hours of daily supervised training.
Big guns Williams, Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Naomi Osaka were among a select group that served their time in Adelaide rather than Melbourne ahead of an exhibition in the southern city on Friday.
Williams, who is gunning for one more Slam title to equal Margaret Court’s record of 24 at next month’s Australian Open, spent her two weeks holed up with three-year-old daughter Olympia.
“I’m so glad the quarantine is over because to be in a room with a three-year-old and being her best friend is definitely difficult, especially after training and working out and then it’s like, oh my gosh, it never ends,” said Williams.
“But it was fun… honestly I wouldn’t trade anything for spending hours with her.”
Asked what she did on her first day of freedom, Williams, who posed for selfies with fans after talking to reporters, said they headed to the zoo.
“We went to the zoo because we had a calendar in our room and every day we marked an x on the days that went by and a big circle on the quarantine ending day, and we promised that we would take her to the zoo to see koalas and kangaroos,” said the American.
A relieved Serena Williams took her daughter to the zoo Friday and Novak Djokovic was happy to simply walk barefoot in a park as the stars of tennis emerged from a fortnight of quarantine.
More than 1,000 players, coaches and officials jetted into largely virus-free Australia this month for 14 days’ lockdown ahead of the opening Grand Slam of the year, with most allowed out for just five hours of daily supervised training.
Big guns Williams, Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Naomi Osaka were among a select group that served their time in Adelaide rather than Melbourne ahead of an exhibition in the southern city on Friday.
Williams, who is gunning for one more Slam title to equal Margaret Court’s record of 24 at next month’s Australian Open, spent her two weeks holed up with three-year-old daughter Olympia.
“I’m so glad the quarantine is over because to be in a room with a three-year-old and being her best friend is definitely difficult, especially after training and working out and then it’s like, oh my gosh, it never ends,” said Williams.
“But it was fun… honestly I wouldn’t trade anything for spending hours with her.”
Asked what she did on her first day of freedom, Williams, who posed for selfies with fans after talking to reporters, said they headed to the zoo.
“We went to the zoo because we had a calendar in our room and every day we marked an x on the days that went by and a big circle on the quarantine ending day, and we promised that we would take her to the zoo to see koalas and kangaroos,” said the American.
