Australian Open: Another flight with COVID on board, more players in quarantine?
As it became known on Sunday noon, another flight to Australia is said to have had a positive COVID-19 case on board. This means that the number of players who would have to undergo a fourteen-day "hard quarantine" should continue to increase.
by Michael Rothschädl
last edit: Jan 17, 2021, 11:57 am
It was not until early Sunday morning, European time, that the number of players who had to complete a fortnightly "hard quarantine" on their flights due to positive COVID cases was corrected upwards from 47 to 63. A total of four people had tested positive for the corona virus at this time, with Sylvain Bruneau including the coach of the 2019 US Open winner Bianca Andreescu.
Now other players are said to be affected by such stricter treatment. As reported on the short message service Twitter, a third flight is said to have had a COVID case on board. This time it is a machine that is said to have started on January 16 in Doha.
Djokovic with a letter to Tiley
These players will be under strict "room arrest" for the next two weeks. While other players are allowed to leave their room for five hours a day to train, these players have no opportunity for a training session on the court during the fourteen days. The Austrian doubles specialist Philipp Oswald is also affected, as he described in an interview with tennisnet.com .
tileyinterview
Craig Tiley announced on Sunday that fitness equipment would be brought to the affected players' rooms in order to ensure a reasonably professional preparation. These measures do not go far enough for the Serbian world number one Novak Djokovic, who, according to the Spanish tennis portal Punto de Break,calls for further measures for the players concerned in a letter to the tournament director.
A confirmation of the report regarding the COVID case has not yet been confirmed. It is also not yet known which players would be affected by a possible quarantine.