Novak Djokovic poses together with his 12 months finish ATP primary trophy throughout day one of many ATP Finals tennis championship at The O2 Enviornment, London, Sunday Nov. 15, 2020. (John Walton/PA through AP)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tennys Sandgren compelled an early clarification of the COVID-19 guidelines as the primary of 15 constitution flights started flying Down Below to ship gamers for the Australian Open.
The 2-time Australian Open quarterfinalist was given a particular clearance to board one of many flights from Los Angeles to Melbourne regardless of testing optimistic to COVID-19 in November and once more on Monday.
The primary of about 1,200 gamers, coaches, entourage and officers have been set to land Thursday in Australia.
Below event protocols agreed with Australian authorities authorities, all gamers needed to to return a damaging check earlier than boarding their flights to Australia and can be subjected to additional testing on arrival and day by day throughout a 14-day interval of quarantine.
The No. 50-ranked Sandgren obtained an exemption after Australian well being officers assessed his case historical past.
The American participant posted on social media to say he wasn’t contagious and was allowed to hitch a delayed flight.
“My two checks have been lower than eight weeks aside. I used to be sick in November, completely wholesome now,” Sandgren tweeted. “There’s not a single documented case the place I might be contagious at this level. Completely recovered!”
The Australian newspaper printed a web-based story headlined “US tennis ace sparks Aus Open virus fear.
Tennis Australia moved to make clear the state of affairs in an announcement Thursday that outlined gamers who’ve beforehand examined optimistic to COVID-19 have been “required to offer further and extremely detailed medical data as proof they’re a recovered case and not infectious or a threat to the group.”
Tennis Australia added: “Within the case of Tennys Sandgren, who has self-disclosed that he beforehand examined optimistic in late November, his medical file needed to be reviewed by Victorian (state authorities) well being authorities. Upon completion of that overview he was cleared to fly.”
The Australian Open has already been delayed three weeks as a result of restrictions in place for the COVID-19 pandemic, and is about to open on Feb. eight.
On Wednesday, almost 12,000 kilometers (7,500 miles) from Melbourne, the qualifying event was accomplished for the event, with 16 males and 16 ladies set to hitch the singles important draw.
The season’s first main has already been delayed by three weeks due to restrictions in place for the pandemic, and the boys’s and ladies’s qualifying tournaments — in Doha, Qatar and in Dubai — have been held outdoors of Australia for the primary time.
The ladies qualifiers embrace two-time Australian Open and Roland Garros doubles champion Timea Babos of Hungary and British participant Francesca Jones, who has a uncommon genetic situation.
Jones has ectrodactyly ectodermal dysplasia, which suggests she was born with three fingers and a thumb on every hand, three toes on her proper foot and 4 toes on her left.
On the boys’s facet, the qualifiers embrace 17-year-old ATP newcomer of the 12 months, Carlos Alcaraz of Spain.
Six ladies and 6 males may even journey to Australia as fortunate losers and bear obligatory quarantine like the remainder of the worldwide gamers, hoping to get a spot in the primary draw as cowl for accidents or withdrawals. There are 104 direct entries primarily based on rankings for the boys’s and ladies’s singles important draw, plus wild-card entries and the qualifiers.
The 15 flights will likely be at not more than 25% capability, and can arrive over a 36-hour interval ending early Saturday.
As soon as a damaging outcome has been returned, gamers can prepare inside a strictly supervised atmosphere for five-hours per day, and gamers and their groups will likely be examined each day throughout quarantine.
The Australian Open draw will likely be held on Feb. four, 4 days forward of the beginning of the primary event, which ends Feb. 21 with the boys’s singles last.
Novak Djokovic is the defending males’s champion and Sofia Kenin is the ladies’s defending champion.
Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams will likely be amongst a gaggle of gamers concerned in an exhibition occasion in Adelaide, South Australia state, on Jan. 29. All different tournaments will likely be in Melbourne, together with the 12-team ATP Cup beginning Feb. 1 and two WTA occasions within the week main into the Australian Open.