Did a tennis tournament cause Melbourne, Australia's 5-day lockdown yesterday?

The city of Melbourne, Australia, site of this year's Australian Open tennis tournament, has just imposed a new 5-day lockdown for all residents. The lockdown is the result of a new cluster of at least 13 cases of the new UK coronavirus variant. The outbreak was traced to a Melbourne Holiday Inn, one of several hotels in the city where international travelers must quarantine themselves for 14 days upon entering the city.

There has been much speculation about the impact of tennis players and their entourages (and fans) from around the world coming to Melbourne for the tournament and what impact that would have on a city (and country) that had seemingly fought off the worst of the virus months ago. Several well known tennis pros have complained about the quarantine restrictions, generating adverse publicity for them as rich, prima donnas who only care about themselves.

But this latest news only proves the seriousness of this pandemic and that, even in Australia, it hasn't truly gone away.

The lockdown was announced by Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews and began at midnight on Friday, forcing spectators at the tournament to leave the stands in the middle of a 5-set thriller between Serbia's world #1 Novak Djokovic and Taylor Fritz of the United States. 

Djokovic has been notorious this past year for his comments and actions in regards to the COVID19 pandemic, including his comments prior to this year's Australian Open.

In announcing the new lockdown, Andrews said, "We must assume that there are further cases in the community than we have positive results for, and that it is moving at a velocity that has not been seen anywhere in our country over the course of these last 12 months."

He also said that the tennis tournament, which had already been restricted to 50% capacity,  would be allowed to continue as it is considered to be a workplace. However, no spectators will be allowed and only players and the minimum amount of staff to run it safely will be permitted.

COVID-19 and the 2021 Australian Open - Djokovic strikes again

The Australian Open is scheduled to start on February 8 and already the world's #1 player, Novak Djokovic, is stirring up controversy. According to various news reports, he has demanded that tournament officials relax COVID-19 quarantine restrictions for players. This despite that fact that 72 players have been forced to quarantine for 14 days because of coronavirus cases on 3 flights into the country.

Photo Credit: Christopher Johnson (globalite), CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Novak_Djokovic_at_the_2011_Australian_Open4.jpg

Nick Kyrgios, no stranger to controversy himself, called Djokovic a "tool" and also criticized the girlfriend of Australian player Bernard Tomic after she allegedly complained of hotel food and having to wash her hair by herself.

To be fair, some of the restrictions caught many players by surprise, including the requirement that anyone on an airplane with someone who tested positive would have to stay in their hotel room for 14 days. On the flip side, though, are 37,000 Australians who have been outside of their country for various reasons but are not allowed to return home.

COVID-19 and Djokovic are no strangers. He arranged the ill-fated Adria tour last year in the middle of the pandemic, was seen with other players ignoring social distancing requirements, and eventually caught COVID-19 himself, along with several other players and associated personnel.

What do you think about this? Let Ace know in the comments below.

New York tried to block France's Adrian Mannarino from playing in the U.S. Open

Well, I promised you more news about the bizarre delay in today's match between Alexander (Sascha) Zverev of Germany and France's Adrian Mannarino. Here it is:

Photo Credit: copy of Twitter Tweet by @BellshawGeorge

Apparently, New York State Health Department officials determined that Mannarino should not be allowed to play in the tournament because he had earlier been in contact with another French player, Benoit Paire. Paire, as you know, tested positive for COVID19 and had to be withdrawn from the tournament.

Several hours of discussions between USTA, ATP, US Open officials, and government authorities ensued. Even Novak Djokovic got into the act by trying to personally reach Governor Andrew Cuomo himself to resolve the situation in Mannarino's favor.

As reported by ESPN, Zverev, who eventually won the match in 4 sets after dropping the first, said, "I was told that there was very little chance we were going to play. They said, yeah, there is a chance at 5 o'clock, but I was just waiting around and seeing, I was very relaxed. Obviously for me, as a player, and for a fellow player, I was happy that he was able to play."

Zverev added, "I don't know if you guys know, but he was around Benoit Paire, so I guess New York State called and said that he shouldn't play. So it was back and forth, back and forth, it was political. It was not us players, we were just sitting around."

However, world #1 Djokovic confirmed that he personally got involved in the discussion by talking with Mannarino's coach and ATP officials. He also said that he tried to call Governor Cuomo, saying that  Cuomo "...was the only one that could actually make the decision to revert the decision that Mannarino was withdrawn from the tournament"

Still unanswered - what are (or were) the official U.S. Open requirements for the bubble and continued play if players were exposed to someone who had tested positive for the virus?  Before the tournament started, what did those requirements actually say? Does anyone know? (If you have a source, let me know in the comments below.)

Well, for now, let's just see what happens if some other players test positive. The tournament has another week to go!