47 tennis professionals in strict quarantine

The Australian Open starts later than planned this year. The journey to the major event that started on February 8th, however, did not go smoothly. The organizer reported three positive tests – with consequences for almost 50 players.

Three positive corona tests on the journey to the Australian Open severely disrupted the preparation for the first Grand Slam tournament of the year. As the organizers announced on Saturday, a total of 47 tennis professionals are in strict quarantine and are therefore not allowed to leave their hotel room for 14 days. It was originally planned that the athletes would be allowed to train for a maximum of five hours a day during this time in order to prepare for the start in Melbourne (from February 8).

Organizer does not name any names

The organizers did not provide the names of the quarantined players. It was therefore initially unclear whether German professionals belong to the group of isolated athletes. The three-time Grand Slam winner Angelique Kerber arrived in Melbourne on Friday.

According to the organizers, two charter flights were affected on arrival. On a flight from the United States, two people tested positive on arrival. Those affected are a member of the crew and “a passenger who is not a player”. Both had given a negative test in the run-up to the flight, a total of 79 people, including 24 players on board.

“We communicate with everyone on this flight, especially the group of players, to accommodate their needs as best we can,” said tournament director Craig Tiley. The second affected machine started from Abu Dhabi and had a total of 23 players on board, the positive test should not affect any athletes here either.

The effort by the Australian organizers is enormous to get the tournament off the ground in the midst of the pandemic. Players and accompanying persons are currently flown in with a total of 18 charter planes. The strict bubble concept is expected to cost over 25 million euros.