Tennis Australia boss Craig Tiley disclosed to the media that one player asked for a kitten to play with during their 14-day quarantine ahead of the Australian Open tennis tournament. They made the request on one of many Zoom calls. He spoke to the players regularly on Zoom to allow them to vent and express their views. He said:
“The most bizarre request was for a kitten in the lockdown room, and that wasn’t once, that was several times. But then when we explained that actually there was a correlation between the coronavirus and kittens and that kind of request went away.” – Craig Tiley
Comment: It is a bit of a stretch to link kittens with coronavirus! There have been several cases of adult cats getting the disease but it is incredibly rare and there is no evidence thus far of cats transmitting the disease to people. Tiley did not want to try and make arrangements and found a convenient reason to turn down the request.
He found the request for a kitten bizarre. I can understand his thinking but it was not bizarre. I suspect that it was a female tennis player. And she wanted some nice company, and kittens a great company. And they calm you down. You feel more relaxed and happy. They make you smile. You can play with them to entertain them and yourself. There are many advantages if you are confined to a hotel room. So it can’t be described as bizarre. It is logical but it had to be impractical.
The first problem would be obtaining the agreement of a person or organisation to hand over a kitten to allow a female tennis player to play with him or her 14 days in a hotel room. I’m not sure many people would allow that. I wouldn’t expect a rescue organisation to allow it but I can’t be sure. They would have to vet the person and there would have to be some supervision possibly.
The tennis player would have to have a cat litter tray in the room and he or she would have to have access to the means to purchase cat food. And they would have to get rid the used litter. Would the hotel accept this? There would have been complications but it wouldn’t have been impossible.
I’m thinking about the great cat lover Mark Twain. He said that renting kittens was a good idea. And he did it. He didn’t do it out of carelessness or with bad intention but because he loved to have kittens around him. I’m not sure what agreement he came to with the provider of the kittens but obviously he handed them back. And “renting” a kitten sounds a bit commercial but I’m sure he behaved impeccably and with great respect for the animals.
Source: MSN Sport news. Mark Twain info: me.
