Melbourne (AP) – After her tremendous victory at the beginning of the new tennis year, Andrea Petkovic wanted to give away one of her sweatbands to a spectator out of sheer joy.
Just as she had done over and over in the past. But at the last moment, the 33-year-old paused and put the sweatband in her pocket. “I think we are not allowed to do that because of Corona,” Petkovic said to the female fan after her 6: 1, 3: 6, 7: 5 against Italian Martina Trevisan.
A small gesture that shows the tension in the tennis circus these days in Australia with full force. Six tournaments, three for women and three for men including the ATP Cup are on the program this week in Melbourne. Tired of tennis – and that in front of spectators. On Sunday only a few fans got lost on the facility in Melbourne Park. But if the Australian Open is to begin on February 8, the organizers want to allow 30,000 visitors a day to the area not far from the Yarra River.
The Victoria State Secretary of Sport chose big words for it. “It will be the most significant international crowds event the world has seen in many, many months,” Martin Pakula said on Australian television on Saturday. Crowds at sports events – many can hardly remember it. The situation in Melbourne and throughout the country makes it possible: The tennis stars around ex-champion Angelique Kerber and Alexander Zverev will be able to play their games at the Australian Open in front of fans.
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.
So there is no reason for those responsible to allow the tennis spectacle, like almost all tournaments since the resumption of the tour in summer 2020, to take place without spectators. A maximum of 30,000 spectators for the first eight days, then a capacity of 25,000 visitors per day for the remaining six days, the whole thing 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 at 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.
The Australians have reacted to Corona with strict measures and have therefore got through the pandemic well so far. The tennis stars also felt the tough attitude of the Australians. Because there were positive cases on some charter flights, a total of 72 players and members of the support staff had to be in quarantine for 14 days and were not allowed to leave their hotel rooms. Kerber was also affected. The Belgian Kirsten Flipkens was not even allowed to have her injured ankle treated and therefore canceled this week’s tournaments.
Last weekend, almost 4,000 spectators in Australia were able to watch the games of the best tennis professionals 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 tournament winner Serena Williams.
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