Lockdown keeping fans out of Open

Since the first case of the Holiday Inn cluster, which has grown to 13 positive tests, Tiley and his team have worked tirelessly to ensure the Open continues without pause – and on Friday he insisted there was no consideration given to halting the tournament.

“Play will continue. The players will compete in a bubble form,” he said.

“Those who will be allowed on site will be the players only and their support teams, as well as staff members who will be unable to do their work from home.

“The players have all been very good about it. They understand. They have been through a rigorous program already.

“I imagine most of them (the players) will spend all their time here. One thing they cannot do is go around the city, they won’t be able to do that, but that’s expected in the next five days, all of us will be adhering to that.

“The most important thing is the safety of everyone. We’re going to have to work through it. We’ve got an event to deliver. The team have done a good job handling these challenges.”

Players were briefed in a 90-minute session on Friday afternoon, with Tiley revealing that the only concerns raised related to whether they would be able to fly out of Melbourne once their tournament was ended.

“One thing the players have asked for is when they have lost, to have the comfort and be assured they will be able to fly home.

“The feedback we’ve had from all the players is they just want to get on and play. They’ve been playing in a bubble for a year now.”

Serena Williams, who advanced to the third round with a straight sets win over Russia’s Anastasia Potapova, was unaware of the firestorm that was brewing during her match.

“I didn’t know (about lockdown) at all until the match was over,” Williams said.