Pictures from the Australian Open 2020 -
Kommersant / SIPA
A Grand Slam tournament with the public, and not just a little.
The Australian Open will be played in the presence of 25,000 to 30,000 spectators, announced the organizers of the first major tournament of the year.
A unique case in these times of pandemic which can be explained by the very severe restrictions on travel imposed by Australia.
This represents some 390,000 spectators in the space of two weeks, or half of the audience received last year, said Victoria's sports minister, Martin Pakula.
The matches of the first eight days can be seen by 30,000 people.
Then the gauge will increase to 25,000 from the quarterfinals.
An incredible atmosphere
Mr. Pakula said he hoped at the end of the tournament "an incredible atmosphere, not so different from that seen on all the opens in recent years".
"It won't be like the last few years, but it will be the most important international event with an audience that the world has seen in many months," he noted.
Victoria has not registered a new local case of Covid for 24 days and all players who arrived in Australia to participate in the tournament have undergone a mandatory 14 days of quarantine.
Eight positive cases were detected out of the more than 1,000 people (players, coaches or managers) who arrived on board 17 charter flights to participate in the Open.
The tournament is scheduled to start on February 8.
“We hope we have shown the way and the example to the rest of the world on the possibility of doing this,” noted tournament leader Craig Tiley, while acknowledging that it had been a huge logistical challenge.
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