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Sanjhi Soch buero :The\u00a0Australian Open<\/strong>\u00a0will begin as scheduled on Monday even though a worker at one of the Melbourne hotels used to quarantine players and their entourages tested positive for COVID-19, tournament director Craig Tiley said on Thursday.<\/p>\n Thursday\u2019s warm-up matches at Melbourne Park were called off after the case was announced late on Wednesday, and those who underwent quarantine at the Grand Hyatt hotel were instructed to get tested and isolate until they had a result.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re absolutely confident the Australian Open will go ahead,\u201d Tiley told reporters in Melbourne. \u201cWe are starting on Monday.\u201d<\/p>\n Tiley said the 507 people affected, 160 of them players, would have their tests completed by late Thursday afternoon.If the results were negative, the players would be free to participate in the six warm-up events at the venue of the Grand Slam to allow them to get some match practice after 14 days in quarantine.<\/p>\n \u201cThis does give us three days for the lead-in events to be completed,\u201d he said, adding that the draw for the Grand Slam tournament had been postponed from Thursday to Friday.<\/p>\n Earlier, Victoria state health officials said the testing of the tennis cohort was precautionary.<\/p>\n \u201cWe think the risk to other\u00a0guests in the hotel \u2013 tennis players\u00a0and their accompanying staff \u2013 is\u00a0relatively low,\u201d Professor Allen Cheng told reporters.<\/p>\n Victoria endured one of the longest and toughest lockdowns in the world to contain the new coronavirus, and Wednesday\u2019s case was the first to be locally acquired in the state for almost a month.<\/p>\n State Premier Dan Andrews has made it clear that the safety of the community is paramount and said there were \u201cno guarantees\u201d the Australian Open would go ahead.<\/p>\n \u201cAt\u00a0this stage, the tennis shouldn\u2019t be impacted\u00a0by this,\u201d he told reporters. \u201cThese things can change (but) this has been a textbook response to this.\u201d<\/p>\n Michael O\u2019Brien, the leader of the opposition in Victoria\u2019s state parliament, called on the government to make a call by Saturday on whether the tournament would go ahead.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t want to see a situation as we did with the Grand Prix, where crowds were literally turning up, only to be turned away,\u201d he told Melbourne\u2019s Herald Sun newspaper. \u201cI think people are entitled to know what\u2019s happening, and the government should be making their minds up in the next 24 to 48 hours.\u201d<\/p>\n The Australian Grand Prix, the traditional season opener of the Formula One championship, was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic last March a few hours before the cars were due to take to the track at Melbourne\u2019s Albert Park.<\/p>\n Tiley rejected the comparison.<\/p>\n \u201cThe probability is very low that there\u2019ll been issue. We expect them all to test negative,\u201d he said. \u201cThe plan is to continue to play tomorrow as planned.\u201d<\/p>\n Tiley, who has plenty of experience of rescheduling matches because of rain, hot weather and bushfire smoke, said the order of play for Friday, when wet weather is forecast, would be released later on Thursday.<\/p>\n \u201cWith the rain, we do have the luxury of having three stadium courts and eight indoor courts,\u201d he said. \u201cThat will enable us to not get ahead but at least be able to finish by Sunday.\u201d<\/p>\n Australian Open oraganisers said the Grand Slam tournament will begin as scheduled despite a worker at one of the Melbourne hotels tested positive for Covid-19 Sanjhi Soch buero :The\u00a0Australian Open\u00a0will begin as scheduled on Monday even though a worker at one of the Melbourne hotels used to quarantine players and their entourages tested positive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9397,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\t\n.<\/strong><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"