Australia continues to face a new wave of Covid-19 contamination. On Thursday, the country recorded more than a thousand new cases in 24 hours, while half of the inhabitants are confined to their homes. In this tense health context, the organizers of the Open Australia (January 17-30, 2022) are already working on the health protocol that will be applied during the tournament. They expect players to spend two weeks in a health bubble, not in strict quarantine, tournament boss Craig Tiley said Thursday.
“There is still a lot of time before the start of the tournament but, at this stage, a health bubble of two weeks is foreseen, where the players will be able to move freely between their hotel and the courts”, detailed Craig Tiley. “After these two weeks, they will be able to go out and play the Australian Open in front of the public”, he continued.
After having postponed the tournament to February in 2021 to have the approval of the government, the organizers of the Australian Open wish this year to return to their usual dates, in January. But the health situation is not really improving in Australia. The government is counting on a plan to reopen when 70% of adults are fully immunized. But by the end of August, only a third of Australians had received two doses of the vaccine.
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