Draw delayed after coronavirus case, but TA chief ‘absolutely confident Australian Open will go ahead’
Australian Open Tournament Director and Tennis Australia (TA) Craig Tiley insists they have no intention of cancelling or changing the times of the Australian Open after a positive coronavirus case from a hotel worker.
More than 500 players, support staff and officials were told to self-isolate on Wednesday after an employee at their Melbourne hotel tested positive for COVID-19.
Australian Open chaos: Players told to self-isolate after positive COVID-19 test, warm-up matches suspended
Thursday’s scheduled matches at Melbourne Park were also suspended and players will have to test negative before they are allowed to play again.
The Australian Open, already delayed due to the strict quarantine restrictions Down Under, is due to start on Monday and Tiley insists it will continue as planned.
“We’re absolutely confident the Australian Open will go ahead,” he said. “We will be starting on Monday and we have no intention of changing times.”
He added: “We know that we have a period now where we have to work with those 507 players and their staff. The probability is very low that there’ll be an issue though.
“We expect them all to test negative. The plan is to continue to play [in the lead-up events] tomorrow as planned. If we have to go through this again, we’ll go through this again. We have thee and a half weeks of tennis to play and we’ll go as scheduled.”
“We’ll play the Australian Open starting Monday”
Watch today’s update from @CraigTiley https://t.co/Eej0UShjzE
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) February 4, 2021
The draw for the hard-court Grand Slam was due to take place on Thursday, but it has been pushed back by 24 hours with Friday set to be a busy day with several matches to get through.
“The draw was set for 6pm tonight (Thursday) but we’ve postponed it until tomorrow afternoon,” Tiley said.
“It will be a smaller version to what we’ve done before because the focus is to get the draw done and get it out there so everyone can start planning what they are doing Monday and who they are watching.”
He added: “We will make the decisions on which halves play where by Saturday as we’ve got to get through quite a few matches on Friday.”
Follow us on Twitter @T365Official and like our Facebook page.
Latest
-
WimbledonWimbledon day four: Iga Swiatek and Rafael Nadal battle on
Katie Boulter, Heather Watson and Liam Broady won on Thursday to keep the British flag flying.
-
WimbledonAlex De Minaur joins girlfriend Katie Boulter in Wimbledon third round
The 20-year-old won the first set on Court One but fell to a 5-7 7-6 (0) 6-2 6-3 defeat.
-
WimbledonRafael Nadal at Wimbledon: ‘Every day is a challenge’
Rafael Nadal is prepared to grind his way into the second week at SW19.
-
NewsIga Swiatek made to sweat to progress at Wimbledon and extend streak
Karolina Pliskova was the big seed to exit the women’s draw on Thursday while Kirsten Flipkens bowed out.
-
WimbledonNick Kyrgios has the belief he can win Wimbledon
Nick Kyrgios believes in himself even if nobody else does.
-
WimbledonExclusive – John Lloyd on the key reason for the stunning form of Katie Boulter and British players at Wimbledon
The stunning success of British players at Wimbledon contunued as Katie Boulter, Heather Watson and Liam Broady all won.
-
WimbledonHeather Watson ‘pretty relaxed’ as she looks to break new ground at Wimbledon
This is Heather Watson’s fourth time in the Wimbledon third round.
-
WimbledonLiam Broady hails ‘amazing feeling’ after beating Diego Schwartzman for biggest win of his career
The British No 5 lost 11 games in a row but fought back to down the 12th seed.
-
WimbledonKyle Edmund set to end 18-month injury nightmare with Wimbledon mixed doubles appearance
The former world No 14 will play mixed doubles in SW19.
-
WimbledonWimbledon Centre Court delight for Katie Boulter and home crowd as she upsets Karolina Pliskova
Katie Boulter reached the third round of Wimbledon for the first time in her career.