By Richard Pagliaro

The Happy Slam may feel like the Big Hurt to players who served hard quarantine, says former world No. 1 Lindsay Davenport.

Seventy-two players were confined to a two-week hard quarantine in their Melbourne hotel rooms due to government Coronavirus safety protocols. Most of those players have little more than a week to practice in preparation for the Australian Open, which starts on Monday in Melbourne.

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In a conference call with the media to promote Tennis Channel's Australian Open coverage, TC lead analyst Davenport says she's concerned for the physical health of players going from confinement to Grand Slam competition in less than 10 days.

"You like to ease your way into it. All of a sudden right now it's obviously a very compacted schedule," Davenport said. "Just the way it had to be. I think they'll make adjustments and get through it.

"I worry for those 72 players that were in the hard lockdown. Physically I think we're going to see a lot of players suffer because of that."

Tennis Channel’s two-week telecast of the 2021 Australian Open will take place February 8-21st, with more than 25 hours of live matches from the sport’s first major of the season. The network will devote more than 175 total hours to its 14th year of AO coverage, with same-day encores, nightly commentary and analysis in addition to live competition.

Davenport, who defeated Martina Hingis 6-1, 7-5 to win the 2000 Australian Open title and played five AO doubles finals in a six year span from 1996 to 2001, said it would typically take her more than a month to return to peak match condition after a two-week break.

"I know that if I took 14 days off without hitting a ball, I would feel like it would take me five to six weeks to get back to feeling good," Davenport said. "These players have right about, I believe it is, nine or 10 days before the Australian Open starts. That's a big ask, especially if you look at some of the men's players that obviously have to play three-out-of-five sets, deal with potentially the Australian summer heat." 

Hall of Famer Pete Sampras was one of several players to suffer blister issues in Melbourne as the heat combined with the fact his hand hadn't been hardened from calluses made the softer skin more vulnerable. Davenport suggests players prone to the most hard-core practice habits are most vulnerable to injury after serving 14-day isolation.



Ultimately, this AO may be a survival of the fittest fortnight.

"Sometimes it's big injuries, sometimes it's little injuries, blisters, just discomfort when you get back out on the court. Those players are going to have a significant disadvantage," Davenport said. "For the players that got to get there safely and be able to train a little bit, I think they'll be okay.

"I think it presents a challenge for certain players that might normally practice five to six hours, have everything a certain way. They've been forced to try to adapt to a different way of life on the pro tour, different preparation."

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