Twenty-four players on a charter flight from the USA to Melbourne must be quarantined for two weeks after a member of the flight crew and a passenger – not a player – tested positive. Both tested negative within 72 hours of boarding the flight, with a total of 79 people.
Another 23 players are also in quarantine following the arrival in Melbourne of a charter flight with 64 people from Abu Dhabi. One person – not even a player – tested positive after the flight, despite presenting documentation of a negative Covid-19 test before takeoff.
All 47 players affected will not be able to leave their hotel rooms for the period of 14 days until they have been medically cleaned. They will not be eligible to practice.
“All passengers of the flight are already in quarantine hotels and the positive case, which is not a player and tested negative before the flight, was transferred to a health hotel,” the second statement read, referring to the Abu Dhabi-Melbourne flight.
The passengers who tested positive for the virus during the US flight were also transferred to a health hotel.
“We are thinking of the two people who tested positive on the flight, and we wish them well for their recovery,” said Craig Tiley, director of the Australian Open, in the organizers’ first statement.
‘Strict test schedule’
“Soon, half of the AO’s players will actually have to retire,” she tweeted. “Weeks and weeks of practice and hard work are going to waste one person positively towards Covid in a 3/4 empty plane. Sorry, but that’s crazy.”
World no. 71 Sorana Cirstea said she understood the need for quarantine, but that it did not have the ability to participate effectively in the Australian Open if she could not practice and practice.
‘What we can not do is compete after staying on a bench for 14 days. This is the issue, not the quarantine rule.
“I will need at least 3 weeks after that to be in decent shape again and be able to compete at a high level!” Cirstea said in another tweet.
The Australian Open, which was originally scheduled to start this month, has been rescheduled from February 8 to 21 due to concerns about Covid-19.
While most of the world’s top players have flown directly to Melbourne, others such as Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams have flown to Adelaide.
“SA Health has confirmed that there is no one with an active COVID-19 infection in the entire tennis group in Adelaide,” the Australian Open tweeted later on Saturday. “Testing will continue daily.”
Prior to the developments on Saturday, the organizers of the tournament said that players will also undergo a stricter test schedule than most returning travelers. ‘
Everyone has to undergo a 14-day quarantine, but they are allowed five hours a day to practice in strictly bio-safe bubbles before a series of warm-up tournaments, all in Melbourne, in the week leading up to the Grand Slam.
But the 47 players now locked up in their hotels will make them wonder how they will be able to properly prepare or the first grand slam of the season.
Dan Kamal of CNN contributed to this report.