“I Don’t Want to Risk My Life” – Denis Shapovalov Hits Out at Australian Open 2020 Playing Conditions

Rising star Denis Shapovalov refuses to play at the Australian Open 2020 if he is scheduled to play under poor conditions, which also troubled the qualifiers. The Canadian also lashed out at the organizers, saying everyone is not happy with the way the things are being handled.

The Australian Open 2020 officials have been criticised by the players for ploughing ahead with qualifiers this week. On the other hand, the citizens were warned to stay indoors as air quality tumbled due to the bushfire disaster.

Also Read: “I Don’t Have Concerns” – Rafael Nadal Opens up on Australian Open 2020 Playing Conditions

“I don’t know what needs to be done”: Denis Shapovalov

The 20-year-old suggested that it’s kind of scary coming to the city as a player and seeing how the players are collapsing, seeing players – fit players are needing inhalers to play tennis. And it’s two out of three sets, it’s not even three out of five yet.

“If it does get bad, honestly, I don’t know what needs to be done. But there’s got to be a solution, and this should have been thought about weeks before. This shouldn’t be something that we have to be dealing with right now,” he told the reporters on Saturday.

“I wouldn’t play,” he added. “Obviously it’s a grand slam, it’s a big opportunity, but I’m 20 years old. I don’t want to risk my life, risk my health being out there in these conditions when I can play for the next 10, 15 years.”

“Everyone’s kind of on the same page”: Shapovalov

“For my own health, if it gets bad, I just don’t see what the point is. I think everyone’s kind of on the same page. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone happy with the way things are being dealt with,” he noted

The Canadian also suggested that there are warnings from the news telling people to stay inside, that it’s not good for your health to be outside, to be breathing this stuff. However, the players get the emails from tournament saying playable.

“For me it’s just like, it’s not great. You see the effects on players it has right now, the last couple of days, but also you don’t know what it’s going to do later in our lives and how it could affect us if we’re breathing this air in for two weeks,” he concluded.