Tennis-Organizing the 2022 Australian Open is “10 times” more difficult, says Tiley

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian Open boss Craig Tiley says holding the 2022 Grand Slam has been “10 times” more difficult than this year as COVID-19’s highly contagious variant of Omicron takes over.

Tiley and his team tried to run the tournament safely in February while Australia’s borders were still closed, and they used the assets for biosecurity measures to reassure the local community.

Twelve months have passed and the situation in Tennis Australia has no longer made it easier for Omicron to spread through the country when the first players arrive at the warm-up events before the Melbourne Park tournament.

“2022 has been 10 times harder than 2021,” Tiley said. “It was a walk in the park compared to that.

“The year 2021 was difficult, but it has not been easy. So many variables. It’s something new, but you wake up in the morning with your team and just hope they stay with it. ”

Although 1,000 foreign players and staff were quarantined for two weeks in the 2021 tournament, 3,300 players coming to next year’s tournament will be free to move around the city once they have returned a negative PCR test.

Everyone in the Melbourne Park area in January must be vaccinated or have a medical exemption granted by the Australian Health Authority.

That in itself is a challenge to manage, but the full audience is offering Tennis Australia a chance to get back some of the $ 100 million ($ 72.2 million) they lost in the 15 months of the 2021 tournament.

Tiley still waited for some participants to get a positive virus, but confirmed that, unlike last year, close contacts only need to be isolated until they return to a negative test.

“If they share a room with someone or they are in the same apartment and someone in that group tests positive, everyone in that room or apartment must be isolated for seven days,” Tiley added.

“So the advice we’ve given players is simple: ‘get your own room.’

Tiley is confident that the organizers will be able to effectively manage health protocols and the tournament will begin on January 17th.

“In 2021, we wanted to protect the community from players who come from environments that had destroyed a virus we didn’t have,” Tiley said.

“In 2022, it’s about players and our patrons not getting Omicron or variants of the virus.”

($ 1 = A $ 1.3843)

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