It was the start of the fight in Melbourne. Following the officialization of a new case of coronavirus – an employee of the Grand Hyatt, one of the three hotels used for the quarantine of players and players – radical measures have been taken by the authorities to prevent the spread of the epidemic. Isolated and subjected to new screening, the 500 to 600 people (athletes, entourages, staff, Australian Open officials, etc.) who have resided in the establishment in question for two weeks are awaiting their results. In order not to take the slightest risk, it was decided that all matches scheduled for Thursday would therefore be canceled.
Six preparation tournaments for the first Major of the year (due to start next Monday) are currently underway in Melbourne: the ATP Cup, the Murray River Open and the Great Ocean Road Open on the one hand on the men’s circuit, the Gippsland Trophy, the Yarra Valley Classic and the Grampians Trophy on the other hand on the women’s circuit. Assuming that all the tests passed by the players still engaged in these competitions are negative, this additional 24-hour period could in theory allow matches to be resumed as if nothing had happened and avoid a host of forfeits ( interested parties can only replay if their results are known).
Moreover, the organization of the Australian Open plans to publish a program for the day of Friday in the coming hours. However, it is also possible that the authorities, regardless of the screening results, will require that contact cases be held in isolation for a certain number of days. In this case, the first possibility: the packages of the players concerned are approved and, if it is possible to do so, the tournaments will go to the end with the remaining entrants. More likely in such a case, the tests should be canceled altogether.
The holding of the Australian Open, it does not appear threatened immediately. But it is obvious that if a new quarantine was decided for a certain number of players, the tournament would be quickly threatened too. The next few days will be decisive.
