The Australian Open will start on February 8th with a delay of three weeks. The qualification for the first Grand Slam of the year has also been outsourced to Doha and will take place from January 10th to 13th. The reason for the postponement is the corona pandemic and the applicable regulations in Australia.
“The redesigned calendar for the beginning of the 2021 season represents a great joint effort in all of tennis under challenging circumstances,” said the ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi.
For the men, the tournament schedule was tied down at the start of the year. The tennis year starts on January 5th with two tournaments in Turkey and Florida, followed by 18 days without ATP tournaments. During this time, the tennis professionals can complete their two-week mandatory quarantine when entering Australia. From January 31st to February 6th there will be two tournaments for preparation and at the beginning of February the ATP Cup, a team competition with two singles and one doubles per game.
Five hours without quarantine
The professionals are to travel to Australia with their greatly reduced supervisory team between January 15 and 17, 2021 and then go into quarantine for two weeks. The time in which you are allowed to leave the hotel quarantine should be limited to five hours a day. In addition, all those involved should be tested several times for the corona virus.
The first Grand Slam tournament of the new season was supposed to start on January 18, 2021. However, the government in the state of Victoria, in which Melbourne is located, had demanded a postponement and very strict hygiene conditions. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, tour operations had paused for many months this year.
