Australian Open 2022: International tennis stars set to arrive in Melbourne and Sydney on charter flights

International tennis stars are set to arrive in large numbers in Melbourne and Sydney this week but Novak Djokovic may not be one of them.

There is still no certainty about Novak Djokovic’s plans for the Australian tennis summer as charter flights prepare to land in the country. Picture: Getty Images

Almost 20 Tennis Australia-organised charter flights full of international stars are set to descend on Melbourne and Sydney from Tuesday.

It’s still unknown whether world No.1 Novak Djokovic will be on any of them, but he has not officially withdrawn from either the ATP Cup or Australian Open.

Reports out of Serbia suggest Djokovic is “99 per cent sure” he will not compete in the ATP Cup, as his lips remain sealed about his Covid-19 vaccination status.

Players have the option of accepting charter flight seats for them and select support staff or travelling commercially.

About 3300 tennis people are due to fly into Australia, a number triple that of the 2021 tournament.

Tennis Australia’s belief is the charter flights will minimise the risk of contracting the virus on the trip over, with all passengers having to provide proof of a negative test in the 72 hours before flying.

Tennis players and support staff prepare to be transported to training in the lead-up to the 2021 Australian Open. Picture: Getty Images

World No.11 Felix Auger-Aliassime was one player who arrived in Sydney via the commercial route on Monday ahead of the ATP Cup, which starts on Saturday.

Auger-Aliassime’s Canadian teammate Denis Shapovalov is in doubt for that event because he tested positive for Covid after arriving in the Harbour City last Thursday.

Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley told News Corp last week that there would be 17 charter flights, taking off from six cities – Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Los Angeles, Santiago, Tokyo and Singapore.

These flights will begin touching down in Australia on Tuesday, but there will be further ones in the new year, based on demand, for those not competing in Australian Open lead-in events.

News Corp has confirmed the rules for close contacts of positive cases will be different from last summer.

Entire charter flights were classified as close contacts and forced into hard quarantine when there was even a single positive case on the same flight in the lead-up to the 2021 Open.

Tennis players who test negative for Covid-19 will avoid quarantine even if there is a positive case on their flight to Australia. Picture: Getty Images

That scenario caused significant angst given those players had more compromised preparations than rivals who dodged a positive case on their flight.

This time around, they will be subject to the same rules as other passengers, in that they must isolate on arrival only until they return a negative test.

Grand slam champions Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem have already withdrawn from the ATP Cup, with genuine doubts about the involvement of Djokovic, Shapovalov and Andrey Rublev.

The WTA 500-ATP 250 Adelaide International – where world No.1 Ash Barty will play – starts on Sunday, while the ATP 250 Melbourne Summer Set tournament begins on Tuesday next week.

There will be further charter flights transporting players from Melbourne or Sydney to Adelaide.

Originally published as Australian Open 2022: International tennis stars set to arrive in Melbourne and Sydney on charter flights