About three weeks before the start of the Grand Slam tournament Australian Open, fans and players have received a major setback! The dreaded Coronavirus infection has been detected in three people from two different chartered aircrafts, coming to Melbourne with players, coaches and officials from Los Angeles and Abu Dhabi.
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Due to this, dozens of players coming in these flights will also have to stay in the 14-day quarantine, due to which they will not be able to practice. The Australian Open is for now scheduled to begin on 8 February.
Due to Coronavirus, the Australian Open is being held in February instead of its scheduled time. Now, the latest issue has increased the concern of the organizers as well as the players. The organizers of the Australian Open issued a statement in this regard.
The organizers had issued a statement on Saturday, 16 January, stating that 79 people, including 67 passengers, were present on the chartered flight from Los Angeles. 24 of them were players. According to the statement, 2 people on this flight have tested coronavirus positive. Those found positive include a flight crew member and a passenger. However, no player has been found to have tested positive for the infection.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://news.abplive.com/sports/big-bash-league-rajasthan-royals-liam-livingstone-six-sixes-video-1439682">#AusOpen</a> update... <a >pic.twitter.com/p6IAXLz5zk</a></p>— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) <a >January 16, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Some time after this, another statement was released by the Australian Open, which confirmed the Coronavirus infection in a chartered flight from Abu Dhabi. According to the statement, one person from this flight with 64 people, including 23 players, was found infected in the Coronavirus test when he reached Melbourne. However, the infected person is also not a player.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a >#AusOpen</a> update... <a >pic.twitter.com/buIRzjfXmG</a></p>— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) <a >January 16, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
After this, all the passengers on both flights have been quarantined in the hotel rooms for 14 days. The players will not be able to do any kind of practice. In this way, currently 47 players coming to participate in the tournament will not be able to practice for at least the next 2 weeks. Among them are two-time champions Victoria Azarenka and Kei Nishikori.
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Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley said in a statement that the 24 players on the flight would stay in their hotel rooms for 14 days until their reports came back negative. The Australian Open is to begin on 8 February.