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47 players barred from Oz Open training after three test positive
Updated On: 17 January, 2021 10:18 AM IST | Melbourne | AFP
Three-time major winner Andy Murray tested positive for the virus and is isolating at home in London, casting doubt on whether he will be able to play. American world number 16 Madison Keys also tested positive, and pulled out.
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Victoria Azarenka
Forty-seven players were barred from practising for a fortnight Saturday in a major setback to their Australian Open preparations after passengers on two charter flights that brought them to Melbourne tested positive to Covid-19. One of the positive tests was returned by Sylvain Bruneau, the coach of Canada`s 2019 US Open winner Bianca Andreescu. He said he was "saddened and sorry for the consequences" after arriving on a flight from Abu Dhabi. Everyone on board the two flights, considered as close contacts, has been ordered to stay in their hotel rooms for the entire 14-day mandatory quarantine period. It means none of them will be allowed out to practise and train for the five hours each day agreed to as part of their build-up to the opening major of the year, Tennis Australia said.
That included 24 players on a plane from Los Angeles, where a crew member and one other passenger, reportedly a coach, tested positive. According to local media, former Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka, 2017 US Open winner Sloane Stephens and Japan`s Kei Nishikori were among those on board. Twenty-three players, including Grand Slam winners Andreescu, Angelique Kerber and Svetlana Kuznetsova were on the flight from Abu Dhabi. Bruneau said that he had tested negative within 72 hours of his flight`s departure from the Gulf and "felt perfectly fine when I boarded." He insisted he had followed all the protocols while in the Middle East. "I have no idea how I might have contracted this virus." He added: "The rest of my team is negative and I sincerely hope that any further disruption is kept to a minimum." French player Alize Cornet, who is in Melbourne but was not on either plane, called the situation "insane".
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