Australian Open: Monday start holds, preparatory tournaments are played to the end
The tournament director of the Australian Open, Craig Tiley , announced on Friday that the starting shot for the first Grand Slam tournament of the year will be given on February 8, as planned. Before that, all six tournaments currently taking place in Melbourne are to be played to an end.
by Nikolaus Fink
last edit: Feb 04, 2021, 08:27 am
It is probably the most challenging situation of their careers for the organizers of the Australian Open around tournament director Craig Tiley. After some initial difficulties had returned in the past few days, a positive test by an employee in one of the player's hotels on Wednesday caused excitement in the tennis circus .
507 players and supervisors were classified as Category II contact persons and therefore had to undergo another corona test on Thursday when there was no match. According to Tiley, the probability of a positive result is "very low", and a positive test by a player would not be a reason to cancel the Australian Open.
The draw postponed to Friday
Therefore, the first Grand Slam tournament of the year will start on February 8th as planned. "We are absolutely confident that the Australian Open will take place. We will start on Monday and have no intention of changing the schedule," said Tiley. However, the same does not apply to the draw: This was postponed from Thursday evening to Friday afternoon (local time).
It is now also certain that the preparatory tournaments in Melbourne will all be played to the end. The ATP Cup, two ATP 250 tournaments and three WTA 500 events are all to be finalized by Sunday at the latest.
Indoor spaces as an alternative
Especially on Friday, given the numerous games, it should be pretty tight. Despite the poor weather forecast, Tiley sees no reason to cancel the events: "We have three covered courts and eight indoor courts. We can use them to finish the preparatory tournaments."
Based on the results of these, Tiley and Co. will then decide over Saturday which halves will start at the Australian Open on Monday. Fans are still firmly reckoned with: "All of our plans are to have spectators at the Australian Open." At least some good news in these challenging times.