Open decides against easing clamps

CONFIRMATION of three Australian Open COVID-19 cases with the mutant UK strain has caused tournament director Craig Tiley to delay increasing how many people players can be exposed to.

In an email to players on Saturday night, Tiley said Tennis Australia wanted to do everything possible to “minimise the risk” for all competitors in quarantine.

Every player who can leave their hotel room to train has an allocated quarantine hitting partner. It is believed the plan was to expand cohorts from two to four so players could train with different people or have doubles practice.

Players are hesitant to do so because of the strict protocols and potential of having to go into hard lockdown for 14 days. COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria said on Saturday three reported cases linked to the grand slam had since been discovered to have the more infectious UK strain, although none are players.

“It is amid this environment that — after consultation with many of you — we have postponed the planned expansion of the cohorts,” Tiley wrote.

“Having more people in your cohort is no extra risk to the local community, because you are all in quarantine. But we want to minimise the risk to each of you and that’s why we have delayed the expansion and will continue to assess daily.”

The 72 players who were on three charter flights with at least one positive coronavirus case have been in hard quarantine in Melbourne and unable to leave their hotel room.

The only player to test positive so far is Spain’s Paula Badosa, who revealed her result on Thursday night. Her quarantine period effectively restarted with that news.

Other players are eligible to exit quarantine next Friday or Saturday, pending medical clearance.

It’s understood Tennis Australia will add an extra WTA event to the calendar for players emerging from hard quarantine, from February 3-7.

Two other WTA tournaments will run as planned from January 31, while three men’s events, including the ATP Cup, will be pushed back by a day each.