Australian Open 2021: Tournament to begin on February 8 as players asked to follow strict guidelines

Australian Open 2021: Tournament to begin on February 8 as players asked to follow strict guidelines
Novak Djokovic, Dominic Thiem

The Australian Open 2021 has been pushed back to February 8 from its original date of January 18. This change has been made due to the ongoing pandemic. Tournament boss, Craig Tiley, has reportedly sent a note to players which circles the procedure that the tournament will follow. 

After numerous rumours about the possible cancellation of the first Major slam of the year, strict guidelines have now been laid out by the DHHS. These have to be adhered to in order for the Grand Slam to move ahead. Each player will quarantine for 14-days. However, provisions will be made for the contenders to practice, but only after they test negative to COVID-19.

Further, players will be tested on days one, three, seven, 10 and 14 in their hotel room. They will be able to go under the isolation from January 15.

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Daniel Andrews weighs in on the matter

Garbine Muguruza, Sofia Kenin

In an interview with Sydney Morning Herald, Victorian Premier, Daniel Andrews, shed light on the Slam. He revealed that with any player flying in Australia, the possibility of COVID-19 being reintroduced also remained. “Unlike every other tennis tournament that the men’s and women’s tours will play this year. Only the Australian Open is in a city where it can be assumed that those players will bring the virus here,” he stated.

These drastic measures are not out of the question. This is so because Australia has reached a point where no new COVID-19 cases have been recorded in the last 24 hours.

The fine details of the arrangements for players are under wraps for now. However, the tournament’s utmost priority is the health of Victorian citizens.

Andrews added, “The notion of keeping up their fitness and training. And all those things in the lead-up to the tournament is no simple thing. There is many, many hours of meetings that have happened.”

Inspite of this positive response, Tiley allegedly stated that there’s a possibility that the tournament might be cancelled altogether. 

Also Read: Former Tennis Star declares “Novak Djokovic will end up with more Grand Slams than Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal”