"Measures are too drastic" says Ekaterina Alexandrova on Australian Open protocol

The Australian Open will enforce a strict protocol for the 2022 edition of the event and Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova is not happy about it.

Much has been said and written about the Australian Open next year especially with the stance of the Victorian Government of mandatory vaccination of players. Any player not vaccinated will not be able to enter Australia and consequently play at the Australian Open. Even with all of that players entering Australia will need to undergo a quarantine period.

All of those regulations don't sit well with many of the players and the latest to criticize them is Ekaterina Alexandrova. The Russian, who has hovered around the top 50 for a few years, is playing at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow and asked about the regulations she said:

"I think these are too drastic measures. Vaccination is voluntary. To have people making such tough choices is wrong. People have to decide for themselves. As for me, I got vaccinated of my own volition right after the Olympics. So I don't think I'll have a problem."

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The measures are much stricter than at any other event in tennis and for vaccinated players like Alexandrova, measures will be less severe. Even so, she is the 2nd player to publicly blast the measure after Victoria Azarenka expressed disbelief at the measures even for vaccinated players. It doesn't seem like anything will change with the Victoria Government doubling down on their decision.

Australia in general has had one of the strictest COVID-19 measures in place for the majority of the pandemic. Alexandrova was asked how she felt after taking the vaccine and she said:

"For three days I felt unwell, I was tired, my whole body ached, but there seemed to be no fever. The arm also hurt badly. Then after about three or four days, everything went fine."