Australian Open with 30,000 spectators despite Corona

Dhe Victoria State Secretary of Sport used big words. “It will be the most significant international event with crowds that the world has seen for many, many months,” Martin Pakula said on TV on Saturday. Crowds in Corona times – worldwide mostly in sentences with prohibitions. The situation in Melbourne and throughout the country makes it possible: The tennis stars around Angelique Kerber and Alexander Zverev will be able to play their games at the Australian Open in front of fans. Up to 30,000 people per day should be there at the first Grand Slam of the year.

Thanks to strict measures, the authorities and those responsible were able to keep the number of infections extremely low. On Saturday, the responsible health department across the state of Victoria reported a new corona case. The member of an international airline is already in hotel quarantine. The number of active corona cases rose to 24. Victoria has not had a locally triggered case for as many days, according to a message on the authority’s website.

“An incredible atmosphere”

Almost by the way, Pakula announced the up to 30,000 spectators at the first Grand Slam tournament of the year via Twitter. The brand should apply as the maximum value for the first eight days, for the remaining six days the capacity will be reduced to 25,000 visitors per day – divided into 12,500 for the day sessions and 12,500 for the night games.

“This means that when we near the end of the tournament we will have an incredible atmosphere in the Rod Laver Arena that will not be so different from the atmosphere we have experienced at all the opens in recent years” said Pakula. The organizers are now expecting a total of around 390,000 spectators. That is about 50 percent of the average compared to the past three years, said Pakula.

Tournament postponed due to the pandemic

Because of the pandemic, the Australian Open has been postponed by three weeks. They start on February 8th. Because of the corona measures, Kerber had to endure a strict quarantine in her hotel room for two weeks. The 33-year-old winner from 2016 was not alone – there were 72 professionals and supervisors in total after positive corona cases had occurred on her charter flights to Australia.

Immediately after the end of their quarantine, Kerber started a nightly training session on the field. For all other participants a somewhat loose isolation applied. It was one of the conditions for the tournament to run. Formula 1 should also have complied with these measures, but due to the large entourage, the traditional season opener in Melbourne’s Albert Park, which was planned for mid-March, was canceled. The race should be rescheduled in November.

Last weekend in Australia almost 4,000 viewers were able to watch the games of the best tennis professionals in the world rankings live at the so-called Day at the Drive in Adelaide. “We haven’t played in front of spectators for a year, that was a long time, so that’s really cool,” said 23-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams. As in almost all other sports, tennis was played almost exclusively in front of ghost scenes.