No crowds from today

MELBOURNE: The Australian Open will continue without crowds from today and players will go into a ‘‘bubble’’ after Victoria was put into a snap fiveday hard lockdown after an outbreak of Covid19 cases.

Victorian premier Dan Andrews announced yesterday the state would go into stage 4 restrictions from midnight last night until 11.59pm Wednesday.

Tournament boss Craig Tiley said there was no prospect of cancelling the tournament and play would continue as scheduled.

The open is close to the halfway point, with some players already through to the fourth round, and is due to conclude next Sunday with the finals of the mixed doubles and men’s singles.

‘‘Play will continue and players will compete in a bubble form not dissimilar to what they’ve been doing right throughout the year,’’ Tiley said.

‘‘This was the first event they’d played with crowds.

‘‘Those who will be allowed on site will be players and their direct support teams as well as those staff members who are unable to do their work from home.’’

He said the new arrangement had been well received by players, with whom he had met over Zoom and in person.

‘‘They understand; they have been through a rigorous process already . . . they’ve all been very positive about it.’’

He said the prospect of playing without crowds and a player bubble was one of the contingency plans that they already had in place.

Tiley expected players to spend the bulk of their time on site, either playing or training, and they would otherwise remain under the same conditions as the general public. — AAP