WATSON CONFINED TO ROOM IN HOTEL

HEATHER WATSON is among 47 players in Melbourne who must remain in their hotel room for 14 days following three positive Covid tests.

The players were on two flights into Victoria – one from Los Angeles and one from Abu Dhabi – on which passengers tested positive.

The infected trio were not players.

British No.2 Watson (above), 28, tweeted: “One person on the flight I was on from Abu Dhabi tested positive. So now everyone else on that flight has a 14-day quarantine where we are allowed out our rooms.”

The Australian Open begins on February 8, meaning players on the two flights will have little more than a week of practice. Tournament organisers spent months arranging for more than 1,000 players and personnel to fly in for the year’s first Grand Slam event.

Sir Andy Murray’s participation remains in doubt after he tested positive for Covid-19.

The former world No.1, 33, had arranged a charter flight but is still isolating at home.