Melbourne bubble rules separate Monfils, Svitolina

Tennis Australia has been doing everything possible to guarantee player safety during the upcoming Melbourne swing. While many protocols have been put in place, new updates are still being announced regularly.

The latest news on the procedures comes from Elina Svitolina, who was told she won't be able to spend any time with her boyfriend Gael Monfils during the two-week quarantine. Players will be allowed to practice and exercise outside of their hotel room, but not mingle with others. They are permitted one practice partner for the first week, and then two more for the second week.

"We are allowed to be outside our hotel rooms for no more than 5 hours: 2 hours of tennis, 2 hours of getting fit and 1 hour for eating," the Ukrainian told BTU.org.

She added that she and Monfils received a letter saying "we may not see each other during this period in order not to increase the social circle."

It was recently announced that six of the top players (Rafael Nadal, Dominic Thiem, Novak Djokovic, Ashleigh Barty, Simona Halep and Naomi Osaka) will be able to quarantine in Adelaide and play exhibition matches on Jan. 29 and Jan. 30.

“The conditions of the quarantine will be the same," Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley told Tennis Channel. "They’ll be in a different hotel and a smaller cohort, and travel direct to Adelaide. We think this is a great opportunity to actually launch before we go into the season."

Monfils and Svitolina will still be in the same Melbourne hotel bubble since she is ranked No. 5 while he is No. 11.

“Sometimes the rules are unclear but we have to follow them,” Svitolina said.

After spending the off-season training in Spain with Monfils, Svitolina is playing this week in Abu Dhabi where she's the No. 2 seed.