Australian Open boss Craig Tiley opposes moving the date of the tournament

Australian Open director Craig Tiley has rejected suggestions to move the event to another date, despite the international tennis season being too long.

There are repeated calls to move the season opener to another time of year to avoid the harsh Australian heat, in addition to giving players more time to prepare after a short season.

The tournament has been hit by high-profile withdrawals in recent days, with men’s world number one Carlos Alcaraz and two-time women’s champion Naomi Osaka ruled out.

Tiley criticized a News Corp report at the weekend calling for the Australian Open to be rescheduled, but admitted the length of the season needed to be reviewed.

“I read it [News Corp report]I thought it was absolutely ridiculous, an outlandish claim,” Tiley said.

“You talk to every player, this is the season. It starts in January. It starts here in Australia.

“It ends in Davis Cup late on the men’s side and not so late on the women’s side, but I think it’s a long season. We’ve talked about it for a long time.

“But Australia is summer, Australia is January and this event, from the players’ point of view, is one of their favorite places to play.

Australian star Alex de Minaur said it was no secret the tennis calendar was long, but he was enjoying the start of January.

“You play tournaments all year, you finish pretty late. It depends on your schedule and everything,” he said.

“If there was a bit more time in the off-season, I’m sure a lot of players would like that. But at the same time, we’re kind of used to it.

“I’ve been doing it for a couple of years where you finish quite late and then you get right into the middle of things.

“There are times in the year when you can decide to take a little time off, and that’s probably the wisest thing to do. So I’m going to look into it.”

Many competitors will face a grueling change in weather conditions, arriving from winter in Europe and the United States, but de Minaur said the players were tasked with organizing the pre-season and getting used to the heat.

Tiley addresses the COVID situation

Tiley confirmed that players would no longer be required to report positive COVID-19 tests, but would be encouraged to stay away if they become ill.

“We are following instructions and have made it clear to the players and over 12,000 staff that if anyone is unwell, stay home,” he said.

“No different from cricket, there might be players competing with COVID.”

Tiley also announced that nine-time champion Novak Djokovic will face Nick Kyrgios in an exhibition match at Rod Laver Arena on Friday night before the tournament starts on Monday.

This will be Djokovic’s first match at Melbourne Park since winning the men’s singles in 2021.

He missed last year’s tournament when he was expelled from Australia for refusing to be vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus.

Mr Tiley said he expected the Melbourne Park crowd to welcome Djokovic back in the same way that the crowd had warmed to the former Adelaide International world number one.

“I’ve sat down with Novak a few times over the years,” he said.

“We’ve spoken quite a bit over the last week, he really enjoyed his experience in South Australia and was made to feel welcome. This week he’s going to attend some events.”

AAP/ABC