Aussie Open officials expect on-time start

MELBOURNE, Australia — There were 160 tennis players back in isolation because a hotel quarantine worker tested positive for COVID-19. Six tuneup tournaments were suspended for a day so that 507 people connected with the Australian Open could be tested for the virus.

And amid those statistics, there was another: zero worries — or so it seemed, at least.

Australian Open organizers weren’t deterred at all, vowing the year’s first Grand Slam tournament would start as planned Monday, with all the tuneup tournaments somehow completed — tweaks are expected — by Sunday.

The one-day shutdown was triggered out of an abundance of caution, the Victoria state premier, a leading health official and Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley all said.

“We are absolutely confident the Australian Open is going to go ahead,” Tiley said Thursday at a news conference held against the backdrop of an almost deserted Melbourne Park. “We will be starting on Monday and we have no intention of changing times.”

Preparations have already been disruptive and chaotic for the so-called Happy Slam, even compared with the troubles of recent Australian Opens, including searing heat waves and the leadup to last year’s tournament being overshadowed by acrid smoke from deadly bushfires.

In those situations, everyone adapted and the show went on. Novak Djokovic won his eighth Australian Open title in late January 2020, and Sofia Kenin won her first major championship.

Two months later, the Formula One season had a false start when the Australian Grand Prix was called off before an official practice session could be staged for the worldwide racing circuit. Drivers and teams had flown in from Europe, there were thousands of fans queuing up to enter Melbourne’s Albert Park circuit — and still the government shut it down.

Tiley was confident tennis wouldn’t be sidetracked in similar fashion.

“The event that we have planned and the lead-in events — we’re absolutely confident it’s going to go ahead,” Tiley said. “The probability is very low that there’s going to be an issue.”

And yet uncertainty is the only certainty for players and the tennis tours.

The Australian Open chartered 17 flights and used three hotels in Melbourne for the bulk of the players to quarantine for 14 days and had other secure accommodation and facilities in Adelaide, South Australia state, for some of the biggest stars, including Djokovic, Rafael Nadal , Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams.

Of those, 72 players were forced into hard lockdown after passengers on their flights later returned positive tests for the virus. Unlike the bulk of the players, they weren’t allowed out for five hours of supervised daily practice during quarantine.

All players were tested daily during quarantine and all were cleared before the tuneup tournaments began this week. Then some got a surprise notification before midnight.

Organizers were in touch with 507 people quickly asking them to isolate and giving instructions on how to undergo testing soon after Victoria state premier Daniel Andrews held a news conference at 10:30 p.m. Wednesday to announce the new case and some new restrictions for Melbourne.

Anyone who quarantined at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Melbourne was deemed to be casual contacts of the 26-year-old infected quarantine worker.

“Players and their teams in there between Jan. 16-29 were immediately notified that when they got up at 9 a.m. we’d start testing, then stay in isolation until they got permission from the health authorities to leave,” Tiley said.

The other players, he said, were allowed into Melbourne Park for practice or to receive treatment — and some took up the option.