Greek ATP tennis player tests positive after leaving Melbourne Airport

A Greek ATP Cup team player, Michail Pervolarakis, has tested positive to Covid-19 in South Africa after leaving Melbourne.

Michail Pervolarakis at Melbourne Park on February 5. Picture: Tennis Australia/Jay Town

A member of the Greek ATP Cup team who played in Melbourne earlier this month has tested positive to COVID-19 in South Africa.

Michail Pervolarakis teamed with Stefanos Tsitsipas in the team event and was beaten by John Millman in a singles rubber 11 days ago on Rod Laver Arena.

The 24-year-old, who did not play in the Australian Open due to a low ranking, revealed he has subsequently tested positive to the virus.

Pervolarakis on Saturday night posted n social media: “Just to clarify few things … got tested negative in Melbourne before leaving and the nurse said that I most likely got it on the plane or on my stop in Doha.”

But the Sunday Herald Sun reported Pervolarakis flew out of Melbourne Airport on February 9 — the same day a person infected with coronavirus worked at Brunetti cafe in Terminal 4, sparking the latest coronavirus lockdown.

The Herald Sun understands Pervolarakis was tested in Melbourne on Monday and received a negative result on Tuesday.

But Pervolarakis flew out of a different terminal on a Qatar Airways flight.

He flew out of Melbourne on Tuesday evening on a flight to Doha, stopping there before continuing to Johannesburg.

Tennis Australia confirmed to the Herald Sun that the 24-year-old tested negative for the coronavirus on February 9 before he left Melbourne.

The world No 463 is upset with the conditions he is enduring in quarantine in South Africa, where he is playing a low-tier event.

“After a 24 hour play travel day from Australia to South Africa I’ve been diagnosed positive to COVID-19,” he wrote in a social media post.

“I am completely asymptomatic at the moment and will have to quarantine in an isolation facility in Potchefstroom. I am not a person who complains, but feel I that I need to express my disappointment with the conditions we are in.”

The full Sunday Herald Sun report is here