Tennis boss reveals Australian Open plan after COVID-19 scare

Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley has provided an update after the grand slam was rocked by a COVID-19 scare in Melbourne.

Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley says there is “no intention” of changing the dates of the grand slam after Melbourne was rocked by a positive COVID-19 case.

Tiley said the plan is still for the year’s first major to kick off as scheduled on Monday February 8, even after multiple lead-up tournaments were thrown into disarray by the virus scare.

“We’re absolutely confident the Australian Open is going to go ahead,” Tiley told reporters at a press conference on Thursday.

Upwards of 500 players and officials were told to isolate and get tested after a hotel staff member tested positive for coronavirus.

Tiley said he was optimistic all the results would come back negative, saying there was a “low probability” anyone would test positive.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said a worker at a hotel the players and officials are staying in became infected with COVID-19.

The players have all endured 14 days of quarantine.

The 26-year-old man from Noble Park last worked at the Grand Hyatt in Melbourne as a resident support officer for the Australian Open quarantine program on January 29 and anyone there was considered a casual contact.

All play on Thursday at five ATP and WTA warm-up tournaments as well as the ATP Cup event featuring the world’s top players in Melbourne was cancelled as a precaution.

Tiley is confident the schedule for those events will get back on track on Friday, once the test results of all players and officials are known.

The Australian Open draw was supposed to take place at 6pm Thursday but because of the complications, has been pushed back to Friday afternoon.

Tiley said there are no plans at this stage to reduce crowd numbers, and added Tennis Australia has been working closely with health authorities along the entire journey to make sure safety is paramount with regards to the Australian Open.