Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal would be a part of the group of top men and women tennis players heading to Adelaide for the mandatory quarantine ahead of the Australian Open in Melbourne.
Hundreds of top men and women tennis players are aggregating in Australia for the year’s first Grand Slam and will be expected to complete the mandatory 14 days quarantine period.
Tennis Australia Chief Executive Craig Tiley said the organizers needed a second city to ensure they did not exceed the limit set by the authorities for people quarantining in Melbourne.
Adelaide will now host the top three men and women players, including Ash Barty and Simona Halep, who will also play an exhibition event before heading to Melbourne for warm-up events to be played at the Australian Open venue from January 31.
The quarantine deal-
With the number of tennis players seeking quarantine increasing rapidly Tiley contacted the South Australian government for quarantining facilities.
We’re right up to the edge on the numbers of people we’re allowed to quarantine in Melbourne,” Tiley said. “We approached the South Australian government about the possibility of them quarantining at least 50 people.
“But they wouldn’t have any interest in doing it, because there’s no benefit to them to put their whole community at risk. But it would be a benefit if there was an exhibition just before Melbourne. So we chose the Top 3 men (and Top 3 women) and they’ll play an exhibition on the 29th and 30th of January.” he concluded.
The players will be allowed five hours outside their hotel rooms to train during the 14-day quarantine and Tiley confirmed that health regulations would be the same in Adelaide.
South Australia Premier Steven Marshall said the exhibition event was a “massive win” for the State.
“We have been working really hard with Tennis Australia,” Marshall said. “We will have some of the top seeds playing right here ahead of the Australian Open.”
Tiley said he expected Melbourne Park, which saw about 800,000 people attend the Grand Slam last year, to have 50 percent to 75 percent of its normal capacity of fans in February. The tournament was won by Novak Djokovic in 2020.
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Nadal and Djokovic to lead their ATP cup teams-
The teams for the second edition of the ATP Cup have been announced, with Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Dominic Thiem among those involved.
The tournament was won by Djokovic’s Serbia in 2020 and will be held this year only in Melbourne, having been played in three Australian cities last year.
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