Craig Tiley says a player officially requested a kitten during hotel quarantine ahead of the Australian Open.
The Tennis Australia boss revealed a bizarre request on ABC Offsiders on Sunday, a week out from the opening Grand Slam of 2021.
The request was made during several of the regular Zoom meetings tournament officials had with players in hotel lockdown.
"The most bizarre request was for a kitten in the lockdown room, and that wasn't once, that was several times," Tiley revealed.
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"But then we explained that actually there is a correlation between the coronavirus and kittens and that kind of request went away.
"There had been some requests for puppies, for dogs, and then I think someone was having a joke with us about would there be a way to get some animals indigenous to Australia in there as well.
"There were a few times I wouldn't have minded putting a boxing kangaroo in there."
The issue of hotel quarantine became a lightning rod for many disgruntled players, with some saying they were unaware of the strict measures in place in Melbourne.
72 players were forced into 'hard quarantine' after positive COVID cases were detected on their charter flights to Australia.
Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut and Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva likened the conditions to being in prison, while Putintseva also shared a video of a mouse in her room.
American Tennys Sandgren also hit out on social media, mocking Tennis Australia's approach to quarantine.
Asked about the criticism, Tiley said he just tries to ignore it.
Tiley also confirmed that the costs for hotel quarantine, travel and other expenses related to the tournament will be borne by Tennis Australia.
There had initally been reports the tax payer could foot some of the bill, but Tiley said the tournament will be covering everything.
"There won't be a need (for government money) - we have significant cash reserves, which we will deplete," he said.
"We needed the (Victorian) Government to run the quarantine program because they are the experts, the Department of Health and Human Services was critical to this being successful."