This is what tournament organizers and authorities feared the most: between 500 and 600 players and accredited for the Australian Open tennis court have been placed in solitary confinement, awaiting testing, after that a case of Covid-19 was detected among the staff of one of the hotels where they spent their quarantine, local authorities announced on Wednesday February 3.
“They will be isolated until they receive a negative result”Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews told a press conference, warning that this could have an impact “On the program of tomorrow”.
In the process, the organizers of the preparatory tournaments for the Australian Open which were underway, whether the ATP Cup (men’s team competition) or the women’s competitions, announced the cancellation of all matches scheduled for Thursday. in Melbourne Park – about fifty in total.
A drastic protocol
The Australian Open, delayed by three weeks compared to its initial dates, ended up getting the green light from the authorities to take place, at the cost of the establishment of a drastic health protocol.
All the players and accredited members (staff, entourage, referees, etc.) had to travel to the island-continent, largely free of the virus, on board around fifteen planes specially chartered by the organizers in mid-January and submit to a strict fortnight upon arrival. Only five hours of daily outing, strictly timed between tennis, physical training and meals, were allowed to them.
Seventy-two players were even forced into full quarantine, without any permission to leave their hotel rooms, after several cases of Covid-19 were detected among passengers or crew on three of the flights to Melbourne.
The state of Victoria had not seen any local contamination for twenty-eight days. This new case led the authorities to immediately tighten the rules relating to the wearing of masks and the limitation of private gatherings, while a maximum of 30,000 spectators are expected each day at the Australian Open.
