Chaos in the Australian tennis championships after the closure of Melbourne for 5 days
The Australian Open tennis tournament plunged into disarray on Friday after a surprise decision was made to lock down Melbourne for five days, with fans banned and players forced to compete in a healthy "bubble".
The authorities fear that the state of Victoria is on the brink of a third wave of the Covid-19 virus, while the city's five million residents have been told to stay home since midnight, except for a limited number of permitted basic activities.
State Minister Daniel Andrews said that Melbourne Tennis Park will be considered a "workplace" that can continue with a limited number of employees, noting that the decision will take effect for the fans at midnight Melbourne time.
But fans who are allowed to attend the stadiums for the first five days of the tournament will be banned starting on Saturday, while players continuing in the tournament are subject to strict new restrictions.
"Play will continue. Players will participate in the bubble system," said tournament director Craig Tiley. "Only players and their technical equipment will be allowed to attend the stadiums, plus employees who are unable to continue their work from their homes."
"Only those necessary to end the event will come to the site," he added.
The matches began on the fifth day, in front of the fans, at the time of the decision.
"I didn't know until the end of the match. It is better that I didn't know," said American Serena Williams, who won 23 major tournaments and reached the fourth round by defeating young Russian Anastasia Potapova.
"It will be difficult days for everyone. But I hope we will pass it through," she added.
As for the Spanish Garpigny Mugorosa, who easily surpassed the Kazakh Zarina Dias, she said that with the tournament continuing despite the new restrictions, "We are happy to continue playing.
Tiley said the players handled well the decision and understood the Victorian state government's position, "I think most of them will spend their time here (Melbourne Park).
"They cannot walk around the city, they will not be able to."
The Corona virus had hindered the tournament before its start, so 72 players were required to go into quarantine for a period of 14 days after their arrival in Melbourne due to Corona injuries on board their aircraft, which prompted them to exercise in their hotel rooms.
Out of more than a thousand players and officials, 8 people were injured on board the flights, including Spanish player Paula Padosa.
There have been major adjustments to the preparatory tournaments for the first Grand Slam tournaments this year, especially after the first positive case in Melbourne 28 days ago, which prompted the organizers to suspend play and conduct tests on a large scale.
Despite all of this, the championship, whose official date was postponed by three weeks due to Corona, began last Monday and the number of fans decreased to 30,000 on Sunday, noting that fewer people attended the stadiums.
But even this shy crowd was welcomed by the players, who lived a terrible season with the postponement and cancellation of tournaments or their staging without fans.
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