Tennis Australia does not plan to hold next year’s Australian Open anywhere except Melbourne, insisted CEO Craig Tiley today.
He was reacting to a broadcast from the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) suggesting the event could be moved to Doha or Dubai if the country’s current restrictions on foreign entry and hotel quarantine are still in place, as the government has indicated is possible.
“We’re going to be here in Melbourne, we are going to make it work,” Tiley said in Melbourne.
“We’re going to find a way to get the players here who are currently traveling the world in a bubble.
“We are the only country where quarantine is required. We’ve got a find a way to manage that and we will.”
Australia has said it will not open its borders until mid-next year and many players have stated concerns about the two-week quarantine period required to host the 2021 event.
Tiley said he believed the difficulties created by the covid pandemic can be overcome.
“The two enemies, mass gatherings and international travel, Covid doesn’t allow those two things to happen, and those are the pillars of our success,” he said.
“Being able to get around that was a challenge.
“There’s lots of speculation about 2022, and it’s same journey we are going to go on. It’s going to be a ride.”
