Tennis Australia chief executive Craig Tiley says he is still confident the Australian Open will start as scheduled on Monday, despite a positive COVID case in a quarantine hotel that had housed players and staff.
Key points:
- Tennis Australia boss Craig Tiley says the plan for the Australian Open has not changed despite the new case in Melbourne
- Victoria’s Deputy Chief Health Officer says the risk of player infection is low
- Premier Daniel Andrews says Australian Open players and staff have not received “special treatment”
About 520 players and support staff who were quarantining at the Grand Hyatt in Melbourne’s CBD are in isolation and will be tested again as a precautionary measure.
Thursday’s matches at Open tune-up events at Melbourne Park were postponed and are now set to be rescheduled for Friday.
Tiley said the state of the tournament remained a “day-to-day thing”, but said he fully expected the rest of the lead-up events and the tournament proper to proceed as planned.
“We’re absolutely confident the Australian Open will go ahead,” he said.
“We know that we have a period now we have to work through with those 507 players and their staff. The probability is very low that there’ll been issue — we expect them all to test negative.
“The plan is to continue to play tomorrow as planned. If we have to go through this again, we’ll go through this again.
Tiley confirmed the draw for the Australian Open, which was scheduled to be held on Thursday night, would be pushed back to Friday.
He said the players had reacted to the disruption well, and all were supportive of the cautious measures being put in place.
“I think the players, from the feedback we’re getting from them, they’re very supportive of what we’re doing and have come to accept the fact that now, when they travel around the world, the environment is different,” he said.
“Anything can happen. Every day you wake up can be different. I think they’ve got used to that.
“Their support has been remarkable and we have been greatly appreciate of that.”
Risk of infection to players ‘relatively low’
Earlier on Thursday, Victoria’s Deputy Chief Health Officer, Professor Allen Cheng, said the risk to players and their support staff was low.
A hotel worker who was on the same floor as infected guests worked his last shift on Friday and returned a positive result on Wednesday.
“I think it’s unlikely [players will have been infected] but we have asked for testing of all of the players and other people who have been in that hotel,” Professor Cheng said on Thursday morning.
“We think the risk to other guests at the hotel, so tennis players and their accompanying staff, is relatively low because they were in the rooms at the time as opposed to staff who were outside the rooms.
“That said, the last case to leave the hotel for the health hotel left on the 22nd so we’re now getting on to close to 14 days since that time.
“So we think that risk is relatively low so we’re testing them to be sure, and it’s precautionary.”
Loading
Professor Cheng said it was “unlikely” the Open would be cancelled, but Premier Daniel Andrews warned it was an unfolding situation.
“The tournament proper should not be affected by this, [but] these things can change,” Mr Andrews said.
The Australian Open has become a point of contention for some in Victoria, who have been wary of the risks of flying a large number of international guests into Melbourne.
But Mr Andrews said the Victorian Government had done all it could to ensure the tournament could proceed in the safest way possible for players and the public.
“I think I have well and truly demonstrated that those connected to the Australian Open do not get special treatment,” he said.
The hotel worker’s two family members who he lives with have not tested positive at this stage.
Some 72 players were forced into hard quarantine for 14 days after positive tests following the 18 charter flights to Australia, with one player among those infected.
ABC/AAP
