The Australian Open tennis tournament will proceed without crowds over the next five days after the state of Victoria was placed under a snap lockdown from midnight on Friday to contain a fresh outbreak of Covid-19.
State Premier Daniel Andrews announced the measures after the highly transmissible strain of Covid-19 linked to Britain reportedly infected 13 people.
Andrews said the Australian Open would be treated like any other professional sporting event in the state.
In a statement organizers Tennis Australia said they are notifying ticket holders, players and staff that there will be no fans onsite at the Australian Open for five days, commencing from Saturday.
Fans who had already bought tickets would get a refund.
The tournament, one of the sport’s four Grand Slams, was delayed by three weeks and only went ahead after more than a 1,000 players and support staff underwent 14 days of quarantine.
Organizers would have been hoping for bumper crowds on Saturday and Sunday as the first weekend of the tournament usually attracts the most visitors to Melbourne Park.
Discover more from LN247
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
