It is no secret that diehard tennis fans will be familiar with the majesty of the Australian Open. For those of us that are into following the major tournaments of tennis, the Australian Open serves as the first out of four major tennis tournaments during the year. The other tournaments are the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S Open.
In a world in which COVID-19 plays such an important factor, there have been many changes that have come to the Australian Open as a result. In this piece, we will go over the changes that have taken place.
First off, the Australian Open is now scheduled to start on February 8th, 2021 and end on February 21st, 2021. Originally, it was supposed to start a couple of weeks earlier. However, it was pushed back to accommodate participants that they are travelling from overseas. After all, players have to follow the local quarantine procedures set forth by the government in Victoria. The ATP is hosting qualifying matches in Doha, Qatar for three days around mid-January. With this schedule, this will ensure that players will have enough time to go to Australia and follow quarantine rules in time for the Australian Open.
The Australian Open will be played in three different courts. Those courts are Margaret Court Arena, Melbourne Arena and Rod Laver Arena.
In terms of coverage, you can expect to see the Australian Open tournament on Channel 9. It can be seen on the channel's streaming network: Stan Sport. This will not be the only major featured by this platform. Stan Sport will also be showing the French Open and the U.S Open in 2021.
One has to admire the resiliency of the players on tour. The top 104 players in the globe have committed to the tournament. Notable entries are Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. Six Australian participants in the Australian Open were given wild-card entry to the tournament.
1 Quarantine rules have been ruled by the country's top health official. It is expected that players and their individual teams will be tested at least five times during the quarantine period. If any player is tested positive, the player must remain in quarantine until released by health officials.
