The Australian Open hung by a thread but, if another onslaught of the coronavirus does not prevent it, it will raise the curtain within a new normal next Monday on the slopes of Melbourne Park. After a few hours of suspense, the organization announced at noon on Friday that the last PCR tests that up to 507 people linked to the tournament had undergone, including players and staff, had tested negative. Relief between the hosts. Therefore, a green light for the first Grand Slam of the season to start, three weeks behind the calendar each year. The alarms jumped with the positive that was announced on Wednesday from a worker at one of the hotels where the players had spent a 14-day quarantine. The worker, apparently, had contracted covid at a party. But, in principle, it has been an isolated case and has not led to an outbreak after all matches of the preparation tournaments scheduled for Thursday were canceled. This Friday they resumed.
The Australian Open continues with its plans to have between 25,000 and 30,000 spectators access the Melbourne Park venue each day, which will in practice represent 50% of the regular audience at the tournament. “Our facilities will be extremely safe. There will be controls, contact tracking and physical distance. We continue to sell tickets, ”said Craig Tiley, the tournament director. It is something that is surprising in the European context, with almost all sporting events taking place behind closed doors, but it should be noted that in the Australian state of Victoria, where the competition takes place, none had been detected even in the case of the hotel employee local in 28 days. That is why the organization forced a quarantine on players and personnel linked to the tournament who arrived from outside Australia.
This Friday Rafa Nadal also did not participate in the clash between Spain and Greece in the ATP Cup because of his lumbar problems. He is taking the utmost care to try to be in the Grand Slam. It is possible that this Saturday, against Italy, in the semifinals the Balearic Islands will make his debut this season. He is not the only one with physical problems. Pablo Carreño noticed back discomfort yesterday and Spain withdrew from the doubles against Greece. On the women’s circuit, Serena Williams had qualified for the semifinals but will not play them after noticing pain in her shoulder. And it is that after so long standing without competing now, a marathon awaits the tennis players. This Friday, more than 80 games were scheduled in the six preparation tournaments in Melbourne. You have to take temperature as it is to face the Australian Open. This is what the young Spanish promise Carlos Alcaraz was trying to do, after beating Goffin, he lost to Thiago Monteiro 7-6 (3), 6-3 at the Great Ocean Road Open.
The Australian Open draw was held a day late. Nadal will debut against Serbian Laslo Djere, 56 in the world ranking. Better known is Novak Djokovic’s first opponent, Frenchman Jeremy Chardy. If Nadal goes through rounds, he could see the faces in the quarterfinals with the Hellenic Stefanos Tsitsipás. On his side of the table are also the Russians Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev. In the women’s tournament Garbiñe Muguruza, finalist in the 2020 edition, she will start against the Russian Margarita Gasparyan. In the second round they could be seen with Paula Badosa.
