Victoria downgrades most of the Greater Sydney region from "red" to "orange" under its coronavirus risk rating, allowing some Victorians to return home from 6:00pm tonight.
MELBOURNE－Australian Open chief Craig Tiley insisted Sunday the Grand Slam will begin as scheduled next month, while admitting it was "not a great situation" for the 47 players who have been confined to their hotel rooms.
Quarantined Australian Open tennis stars were told today that they would get no special treatment after Novak Djokovic demanded that the 72 players isolating in hotels be allowed to move to private homes with tennis courts.
Djokovic s reported list of demands included a shorter quarantine period, permission for players to visit their coaches, and access to courts where they could train for the tournament in Melbourne.
But state premier Daniel Andrews said authorities would not bend the rules, telling the players that there s no special treatment here. because the virus doesn t treat you specially, so neither do we.
Djokovic - who caught Covid last year at a tournament he hosted in Serbia without masks or social distancing - was one of several tennis stars to complain about conditions in Australia, where locally transmitted infections are minimal and strict border closures have been in place for months.
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Kei Nishikori during an interview with The Asahi Shimbun on Dec. 11, 2020 (Hiroki Endo)
The number of players in hard quarantine swelled to 72 ahead of the Australian Open after a fifth positive coronavirus test was returned from the charter flights bringing players, coaches, officials and media to Melbourne for the season-opening tennis major.
That means they won’t be allowed to leave their hotel rooms or practice for 14 days, creating a two-speed preparation period for the tournament. Other players in less rigorous quarantine will be allowed to practice for five hours daily.
Australian Open organizers confirmed late Sunday that the latest case involved a passenger on the flight from Doha, Qatar to Melbourne who was not a member of the playing contingent, But all 58 passengers, including the 25 players, now cannot leave their hotel rooms for 14 days.