New well being rebound 5 days earlier than the Australian Open. 500 to 600 gamers and accredited have been returned to solitary confinement pending a damaging check after a case of Covid-19 was detected amongst workers at one of the quarantine lodges in Melbourne on Wednesday. Direct consequence: all matches scheduled for Thursday at Melbourne Park are canceled. A extreme blow a number of days earlier than the begin of the Australian Open, when about fifty matches had been scheduled, between ATP Cup, two different ATP tournaments and three WTA tournaments.
Results delivered inside 24 hours
“The health authorities informed us that an employee of a quarantine hotel ( Grand Hyatt, editor’s note ) had tested positive for Covid-19. People linked to the Australian Open who have passed their quarantine at this hotel must now be tested and isolated until they test negative, ”the organizers mentioned in an announcement Wednesday evening at Thursday. “There won’t be a game at Melbourne Park on Thursday,” they introduced. A communication on Friday’s program will likely be made later. We will work with all the stakeholders to hold out these checks as rapidly as attainable ”.
Between 500 and 600 gamers, gamers, coaches, members of the entourage and even officers are involved and will likely be examined Thursday, defined the Prime Minister of the State of Victoria Daniel Andrews at a press convention earlier in the night . “At this point, it doesn’t impact the Australian Open itself,” mentioned Andrews, with check outcomes often being returned inside 24 hours.
Strict fortnight
For the tennis caravan, nevertheless, it is a further problem in the gigantic logistical puzzle and the constraining impediment course concerned in the holding of the Australian Open. To get the inexperienced gentle from the Australian authorities, the Australian Tennis Federation (Tennis Australia), which organizes the first Grand Slam of the yr like the preparation tournaments, needed to arrange a drastic well being protocol.
This first led to the postponement of three weeks of the Australian Open from its preliminary dates, and the relocation of its {qualifications} to 1000’s of kilometers, to Doha for the males’s draw, and Dubai for the draw. female.
Above all, all the gamers and accredited members – greater than a thousand individuals in whole – needed to journey to the island-continent, very largely free of the virus, on board about fifteen specifically chartered planes. January. And, on arrival, undergo a strict fortnight. The solely margin of freedom: 5 hours of day by day outing, militarily timed between tennis – with a single associate -, bodily coaching and meals.
Worse: Seventy-two gamers had been compelled into full quarantine, with none permission to depart their lodge room, after a number of instances of Covid-19 had been detected amongst passengers or crew on their flights to Melbourne.
