ATP’s facing fresh challenges ahead of Australian Open

THE arrival of players into Australia ahead of the season-opening grand slam in Melbourne has been subject to “new challenges”, the ATP Tour said.

Australia has some of the strictest measures in the world to combat the coronavirus and there were potential issues with players having to quarantine for two weeks on arrival, and restrictions preventing movement between states.

As a result, the state of Victoria was named as the location for all warm-up tournaments by Tennis Australia chief executive Craig Tiley, shifting events from Hobart, Adelaide and Brisbane.

But a note to players, shared on Twitter by world number 193 Lukas Lacko, said: “In discussions with Tennis Australia over the past 24 hours, we have been informed there are some new challenges around the previously planned arrival dates for players and team members.

“We continue to work with Tennis Australia on confirming plans for January, and we will provide an update as soon as more information is available in the coming days.

“We understand there is uncertainty about the start of the 2021 season, and we are working as hard as possible to deliver the best possible calendar of events to players, maximising points, jobs and prize money opportunities.”

Speaking to reporters yesterday, Victorian premier Daniel Andrews said the suggestion of all tournaments moving to Melbourne was far from a “done deal”.

He said: “This is incredibly complex, it has to be done safely, it has to be done properly. We’re confident that we’ll finish up with an Australian Open, it’s a very important event but there’s a lot of work to be done to make sure that’s as safe as possible. We’re working hard to make sure there is as much tennis as we can safely have, but it’s got to be done safely.”