47 Australian Open players in hard quarantine after second positive flight lands in Melbourne

The Australian Open preparations are in chaos after a second charter flight used to bring players down to Australia was compromised.

The Australian Open preparations are in chaos after a second charter flight that was being used to ferry players to Melbourne before the February 8 start of the tournament was revealed to have a COVID-19 positive test.

After a leaked email from Tennis Australia to some of the world’s top players declared they will be sent into hard lockdown and unable to leave their rooms for 14 days, a second compromised flight was revealed on Saturday night.

It means 47 players are reportedly in hard quarantine and will not be able to leave their hotel rooms for 14 days and until they are medically cleared, meaning they won’t get to practice.

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An Australian Open press release on Saturday night revealed that a passenger on the charter flight from Melbourne to Abu Dhabi returned a positive COVID-19 test.

There were 64 people on the flight, including 23 players, with the Herald Sun reporting Marta Kostyuk, Bianca Andreescu, Angelique Kerber, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Ons Jabeur, Belinda Bencic and Maria Sakkari were some of the players on board.

All passengers on the flight were already in quarantine hotels and the positive case was transferred to one of Melbourne’s health hotels.

The positive test was not for a player and the person had tested negative before the flight.

The email for the passengers on flight EY8004 were quickly shared around social media.

In a later deleted tweet, French world No. 53 Alize Cornet wrote: “Soon, half of the players from the AO will actually have to isolate. Weeks and weeks of practice and hard work going to waste for one person positive to Covid in a 3/4 empty plane. Sorry but this is insane”.

I know, and we are also playing by the rules and doing the 14 days quarantine ourselves, with just 5 hours outside per day, safe and supervised, in order to work and be ready for the AO coming up.
I just think that these measures are not made to hold an international tennis event

— Alize Cornet (@alizecornet) January 16, 2021

A *second* charter flight to #AusOpen has been compromised by a positive COVID test, this one from Abu Dhabi.

Means a whole second raft of players is going to have to do a hard, room-only 14-day quarantine with no practice shortly before a Grand Slam.

What a mess. pic.twitter.com/bzotsTYjUV

— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) January 16, 2021

Tennis players arrive in Melbourne.

It comes after the email, shared by player Santiago González, says that two people aboard chartered flight QR7493 from Los Angeles to Melbourne were infected with COVID-19 and could have spread the virus to other passengers.

The first flight had 79 people on the flight, including 67 passengers, with 24 players.

The two people on the plane who tested positive were a member of the flight crew and a passenger who is not a player tested negative within 72 hours of boarding the flight.

“Unfortunately we have been informed by the health authorities that two people on your flight from LAX that arrived at 5:15am on Friday 15 January have returned positive COVID-19 PCR tests on arrival to Melbourne,” the Tennis Australia email read.

I read this as players on board that flight will NOT be allowed to train for 2 weeks? https://t.co/nCJK7H8vPw

— Natalie Yoannidis (@NatYoannidis) January 16, 2021

“We know this is not how you imagined your preparations for the AO would start but our entire team is here to support and do everything we can to get your through this.

“You will soon be contacted by our medical experts Aspen Medcal if you haven’t been already. They are available 24/7 to support you with all your medical, mental health or wellbeing concerns.

“The most important thing you need to know right now is you are not alone in this and we are here to provide you any extra support you need.”

Security measures are tight at Memorial Drive.

Players on the flight reportedly include female stars Victoria Azarenka and Sloane Stephens and men’s star Kei Nishikori.

Tournament Director Craig Tiley said: “We are communicating with everyone on this flight, and particularly the playing group whose conditions have now changed, to ensure their needs are being catered to as much as possible, and that they are fully appraised of the situation.

“Our thought are with the two people who tested positive on the flight and we wish them well for their recovery.”

The news, which broke on Saturday morning local time, has made headlines around the world.

New York Times sports journalist Karen Crouse wrote that she feels “terrible” for the players aboard who now won’t be allowed to practice for the next two weeks except on the exercise bikes the Australian Open delivered to their rooms”.

She tweeted: “In the name of full transparency, I hope the Australian Open will divulge the names of the passengers on the LAX charter flight who tested positive in their day-of-arrival Covid test.”

Two positive covid tests on the LA charter. I feel terrible for all the players aboard who now won't be allowed to practice for the next two weeks except on the exercise bikes the Australian Open delivered to their rooms.

— Karen Crouse (@bykaren) January 16, 2021

BREAKING: An aircrew member & #AusOpen participant (who isn’t a player) have been taken to a health hotel in Melbourne after receiving a positive covid test. The passenger tested NEGATIVE pre-departure. All remaining 66 passengers have been deemed close contacts. @AustralianOpen pic.twitter.com/J607az3eBN

— Kristina Costalos (@kcostalos) January 16, 2021

6PR’s Mark Gibson also hit out at the decision after the second flight was revealed, labelling it “a shambles”.

So many people on these flights now awaiting test results.
Inviting COVID into the country for the sake of a tennis tournament (as much as I love the sport and the event) seems crazy to me. #AusOpen #COVID19

— Mark Gibson (@markgibbo) January 16, 2021

It follows news that former world number 1 Andy Murray had tested positive for COVID-19.

Health chiefs vowed Friday there will be no preferential treatment for the five-time finalist, saying he must return a negative Covid-19 test if he wants to play the Australian Open.

The former world number one was due to travel to Melbourne on one of a series of charter flights laid on by tournament organisers, but revealed on Thursday he had tested positive for the virus.

He is isolating at home in London, casting major doubt over whether he will be able to play the opening Grand Slam of the year.

Britain’s Press Association news agency said the three-time major winner, apparently in good health, was hoping to arrive in Australia at a later date.

But Victorian state health minister Martin Foley said the Scotsman won’t be getting any special favours.

“In regards to Mr. Murray, we’ve been clear from the start that anyone who tests positive is not able to be part of the programme coming into Melbourne and Australia,” he told reporters.

Tennis players, coaches and officials arrive at a hotel in Melbourne on January 15, 2021, before quarantining for two weeks ahead of the Australian Open tennis tournament. Picture: William West/AFP

“Mr. Murray, and the other 1,240 people as part of the program, need to demonstrate that if they’re coming to Melbourne they have returned a negative test.

“So should Mr. Murray arrive, and I have no indication that he will, he will be subject to those same rigorous arrangements as everyone else. Should he test positive prior to his attempts to come to Australia, he will be refused.” Murray was handed a wildcard to the Open, hoping to make his first appearance in Melbourne since 2019, when he revealed the extent of a right hip problem and raised the possibility of imminent retirement.

More than 1200 players and support staff have begun arriving for 14 days’ quarantine ahead of the delayed tournament, which is due to start on February 8.

They are being greeted by biosecurity officials wearing personal protective equipment, before being whisked away to hotel quarantine.

Players are only allowed into the country with proof of a negative test prior to departure, or with approval as a recovered case at the Australian government’s discretion.

That rule applied to American world number 50 Tennys Sandgren, who was permitted onto a flight from Los Angeles Thursday despite tweeting that he tested positive this week.

It was his second positive result, having been diagnosed with Covid-19 in November.

— with AFP