The Covid-19 is invited again to the Australian Open. After the disruptions ahead of the tournament, a new five-day lockdown was ordered Friday in Melbourne to counter a possible resurgence of the epidemic, and the rest of the tournament will therefore be held behind closed doors at least until Wednesday. The Prime Minister of the State of Victoria, Daniel Andrews, announced that this lockdown, which will begin at midnight Australian time, was necessary to stop a cluster “Hyperinfectious” of contaminations with the English variant of the coronavirus, which appeared in one of the hotels used for the quarantine of several players and participants in the Australian Grand Slam.
So far 13 people have been infected among hotel staff and their families. The Prime Minister of the State of Victoria clarified that the venue for the first Grand Slam tournament of the 2021 season which started on Monday, and which brings together most of the best players in the world, was considered a ” workplace “ which can continue to operate with a limited number of employees.
In camera tournament
This means that the Australian Open can continue, but behind closed doors. In the process, the organizers of the tournament have indeed announced that the event will take place without spectators, at least for the next five days.
“We inform ticket holders, players and staff that from midnight Saturday (Australian time, editor’s note) there will be no spectators on the Australian Open site for the next 5 days”, announced the direction of the tournament in a statement, indicating that a system of refunding will be put in place.
The schedule for Friday’s matches, including world No. 1 Novak Djokovic opposed to American Taylor Fritz or the duel between local darling Nick Kyrgios and Dominic Thiem, is unchanged. “The matches scheduled for this Friday, during the day and in the night session, are maintained as planned, with the anti-Covid measures already in place”, added the organizers.
Pre-pandemic atmosphere
The Australian Open had been authorized to maintain the reception of spectators as planned, i.e. 25,000 to 30,000 spectators per day, sometimes even giving the world tennis circuit the impression of having reconnected with the passionate atmosphere of the pre-pandemic.
Preparations for the tournament, which had been postponed by three weeks due to the coronavirus, had already been greatly complicated by the epidemic. After a 2020 season upset by the pandemic, the organizers had made the bet to maintain this major event, at the cost of extraordinary logistics due to exceptional health constraints.
