Will the Australian Open be postponed?
New flight and capacity regulations could ensure that the Australian Open cannot start as planned from January 18, 2021. The junior tournament has already been canceled.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Nov 21, 2020, 12:37 pm
The Australian Open will probably not be able to start with their main field players on January 18, 2021 as planned. This is reported by the Australian daily newspaper The Age .
Actually, Melbourne was expected to welcome the first players from December 8, 2020. However, the state of Victoria has now decreed that players are not allowed to enter the country until January, followed by a two-week quarantine. The problem: The players only have a few days to prepare for the first Grand Slam tournament of the year. A decision about a later tournament start should be made in the next few days.
In general, flights to Victoria are allowed again from December 7th, but the mass of players, supervisors, media representatives and co. Make the whole thing problematic. "I am confident that we will see an edition of the Australian Open in the first part of next year. The exact time has not yet been set," said Prime Minister Daniel Andrews.
Australian Open: Junior tournament already canceled
However, it is already clear that the junior tournament has been canceled or postponed and, if necessary, will be replaced by a "replacement tournament". The players have already been informed of this. The very few corona cases in Australia were achieved due to strict measures, "including a limited number of international travelers to Australia and a mandatory quarantine period of 14 days," it says. This makes it "very difficult" to host a junior event as part of the Australian Open 2021.
Postponing the main tournament of the Australian Open is certainly not the result that one had hoped for, commented ex-double professional Todd Woodbridge. "But crazier things have happened in 2020, haven't they? Roland Garros in September, the Golf Masters that only ended last week and otherwise took place in April ..."
The decisive factor in the negotiations between the Australian Tennis Association and the health authorities is whether and under what conditions the players can train during their quarantine period, according to The Age .