Players to report for Australian Open weeks in advance

PLAYERS will need to arrive three weeks ahead of the Australian Open in order to spend two weeks in quarantine and take part in warm-up tournaments under plans revealed yesterday.

The first grand slam of 2021 — which has a purse of £40million — will begin in Melbourne on February 8, but players must arrive in the country by mid-January in order to clear quarantine amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Players will stay in selected hotels and be allowed to train during the quarantine period, within a biosecure environment.

The WTA has announced that two WTA 500 tournaments will be staged at Melbourne Park from January 31 to February 7 as warm-up events, while the

ATP will move the Adelaide International to the city and also host an ATP 250 Tournament at the same time.

Tournament director Clive Tiley said charter flights would be arranged for players for January 15 and 16, and that there would be a ‘high level of security’ around the quarantine arrangements.

‘Entries close early next week and, at this point, we have a commitment from every single player in the world to be here in Australia,’ said Tiley.

‘We are chartering flights from around the world so the players, before they get on any flight, will have to test negative within a 48-hour window. When they arrive, they’ll receive another test which will have to be negative, and they’ll remain in their hotel rooms until they have those two negative tests.

‘Then it’s a modified quarantine environment, a high level of security.

‘They will be transported from the hotels, which will be playersonly, to the courts for no more than five hours a day.’