Melbourne could be the sole venue for a summer of tennis
Every major tennis tournament of the summer could be played in Melbourne, as Australian Open organisers explore options to get the world’s best players to Victoria.
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Melbourne could host every major tennis tournament of the summer as Australian Open organisers move to ensure the world’s best players can get into Victoria for the Grand Slam.
Tennis Australia chiefs have given other states and territories until next week to guarantee the world’s best players will be able to quarantine and easily travel to Victoria for January’s Open.
If not, the ATP Cup scheduled for Sydney and Brisbane, Adelaide and Hobart Internationals would all be moved to Melbourne and played either side of the Open and event qualifiers.
In a boon for sports starved Victorians, tennis stars would arrive in Melbourne mid-December and play tournaments before crowds until February.
Australian Open boss Craig Tiley said event organisers were “now under the pump’’ over plans to safely get global stars into Melbourne from other states “and next week have to make a final call’’.
“If we are unable to get them approved, if we’re unable to get those commitments then we’ve got to seriously look at contracting everything to Melbourne,’’ he said.
“For the people of Melbourne it would certainly be beneficial but that decision is only really made if the quarantine plans are compromised too much and also the assurances of border travel are problematic.’’
Organisers fear players such as Roger Federer and Serena Williams could be stuck in other states if another COVID-10 outbreak occurred and restricted entry to Melbourne.
“We need two things – we need our quarantine and plans approved in each state and we need a commitment that the borders stay open,’’ he said.
He said the traditional “multi-city’’ lead-up to the Victorian major event would be scrapped if those assurances were not met.
“That assures us that all the players are in Melbourne for the Australian Open and we don’t run into the risk of them being stuck in other cities around Australia,’’ he said.
“We haven’t made a decision yet but those are now the two options in front of us.’’
Mr Tiley said international players in town for the Open would be restricted to strict ‘’bubbles’’ that confined movement between their hotel, official transport and Melbourne Park, regardless of whether lead in events were staged in other Aussie cities or just Melbourne.
“When they are in the bubble, they cannot leave the bubble,’’ he said.
“You have to remain in that environment for two weeks.’’
He also revealed Open tickets would go on sale on November 26 and said all men’s and women’s stars had confirmed they were coming.
“We will have a limited number of tickets available and as restrictions change, we will release more,’’ he said.
He expected crowds of about 25 per cent the normal turnout for the Open, to be staged from January 18-31, but crowd numbers “could be at a higher level’’ if coronavirus cases continue to fall.