All the matches scheduled for this Thursday in Melbourne, those of the ATP Cup, the ATP 250 and the WTA, has been cancelled after an employee of the Grand Hyatt hotel tested positive for coronavirus.
Between 500 and 600 people, including tennis players, Aussie tournament officials and support employees, were isolated and will have to undergo a new test in the next few hours. Until they have a negative test, they will be considered casual contacts.
“Health Authorities have advised us that a hotel quarantine worker has tested positive for COVID-19. Those associated with the who quarantined at the hotel now need to be tested and isolate until they receive a negative test result. We will work with everyone involved to facilitate testing as quickly as possible.” Tennis Australia said in a statement.
Many players are staying at the Grand Hyatt and were excluded from the hypothetical competition for this Thursday, for example, the matches of the Argentine team of the ATP Cup against Japan and the match of Nadia Podoroska for the quarterfinals of the Yarra River Open.
In addition, happens a few days after the start of the first big of the season, the 8th of the current one. After being quarantined, most of the players were released between January 29 and 30. They had begun to enjoy this freedom from another world, like the Argentine Diego Schwartzman.
“After these fourteen days of being in a world without chinstraps, without coronavirus, it is practically unreal. Being here now, I would stay a couple of months living in Australia if I could.” Schwartzman.
A tennis exhibition was played in Adelaide, where there were, among others, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Dominic Thiem and the sisters Serena and Venus Williams lst week. And the show wore many people in the stands and without masks.
There will be no matches at Melbourne Park on Thursday 4 February 2021. An update on the schedule for Friday will be announced later today.
