Major tennis events from around Australia to be moved to Melbourne

Hopes Adelaide would be able to hold on to another of its biggest summer drawcards have been dashed.

Australian Open director Craig Tiley. Picture: Fiona Hamilton

The Adelaide International Tennis Tournament will be played in Victoria next year, along with all other summer tennis events to ensure the Australian Open goes ahead.

Tennis Australia has taken the unprecedented step of transferring events usually played interstate such as the Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra and Hobart Internationals to Victoria. The ATP Cup scheduled for Sydney, Brisbane and Perth could also be moved to Melbourne, to ensure the Grand Slam goes ahead with stars such as Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams.

Premier Stephen Marshall said during a press conference he was not aware of the fate of the Adelaide International but he was still “hopeful” it would be in SA.

“There are complications with bringing a large number of players and support teams from overseas,” he said.

Australian Open director Craig Tiley. Picture: Fiona Hamilton

“The Prime Minister has made it clear that we want to bring back stranded Australian citizens first.”

The State Government and Tennis Australia last week struck a deal for the Adelaide International to be held at Memorial Drive for the next 10 years. However, the 2021 event was still unclear at that stage.

In another shake-up for summer tennis events, international players previously expected to fly into other Australian capitals to quarantine will now travel directly to Melbourne and enter a two-week “bubble’’ before the Open.

Players, expected to arrive in Melbourne in mid-December and stay until February, will be allowed to play and train but be restricted to hotels or the tennis court until completing quarantine.

More than 550 players from around the world are expected for the tournaments. Players will be free to move around Victoria once quarantine is completed. Australian Open director Craig Tiley said other states had not been able to guarantee player quarantine arrangements or make a “commitment of open travel between cities’’ during the summer.

Regional centres like Bendigo were also in line to receive tennis tournaments as part of the arrangement. He said lead-in events to the Open would now be “redesigned’’.

Originally published as Major tennis events from around Australia to be moved to Melbourne