Sports minister: Australian Open ‘most likely’ to be delayed No. 7 Cincinnati at Temple canceled because of virus issues

MELBOURNE, Australia – The sports minister for Victoria state says the 2021 Australian Open in Melbourne will “most likely” be delayed by a week or two from its scheduled start of Jan. 18.

Martin Pakula also said negotiations between various levels of governments and tennis officials were close to a conclusion and that the first Grand Slam tennis tournament of the year was expected to go ahead.

“There’s a number of potential dates on the table. I’ve seen reports that suggest that it’s likely to be delayed by a week or two. I think that’s still most likely,” Pakula said Wednesday. “But it’s not the only option. As you know, the French Open was delayed by many months and Wimbledon didn’t occur at all.

“I still think it’s much more likely that it will be a shorter rather than longer delay. I don’t want to unduly repeat myself but these are very complex negotiations.”

No. 7 Cincinnati’s game at Temple this weekend was canceled Wednesday because both teams are dealing with COVID-19 issues.

The American Athletic Conference said the game scheduled for Saturday could not be made up on Dec. 5, even though both teams have an open date, because the league’s protocols “would not allow for a sufficient number of players to be available for competition on that day.”

The unbeaten and conference-leading Bearcats’ next game is scheduled for Dec. 12 at No. 24 Tulsa, which had its game scheduled for Saturday against Houston postponed because the Cougars have been hit by the virus.