Tennis Australia boss Craig Tiley has revealed that the 2021 Australian Open is set to go ahead with 25-50% crowd capacities as they prepare for an extended summer of tennis.
The US Open heralded the return of Grand Slam tennis in September with no crowds after the WTA and ATP tour took an extended hiatus as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.
Since then, tennis has slowly welcomed back crowds, with the French Open forced to limit fans to just 1,000 per day.
As the infection rate continues to drop in Victoria, Tennis Australia boss Craig Tiley has confirmed that they will look to host the event with up to 50% of usual capacities, with the major courts set to operate as outdoor arenas.
“For them to go ahead and be successful in an environment with countries where the infection rate really high, the US Open with no crowds and the French with small crowds, we’re certainly going to be taking away some of their successes,” Tiley told Sports Sunday.
“We’re all go for what’s going to be a great start to the year.
“We’ve also worked out with the requirements on physical distancing, we’ve still got to stay in certain physical parameters and we’ve worked out what that would be and we’re going to have crowds anywhere between 25-50% of what we’ve had before.
“All the areas that have retractable roofs will remain outdoor arenas. It’s a very outdoor site…the size of the site and the way we can physically distance people, we will enjoy having quite a fair crowd.”
Big names confirmed! Up to 50% crowds! The Australian Open is heating up as January closes in.👏🎾
— Wide World of Sports (@wwos) October 3, 2020
Stream Sports Sunday: https://t.co/XMI3e8hWqS#9WWOS pic.twitter.com/uaQKLNHCAy
Tiley hinted that they will look to introduce more events during the build-up to the Grand Slam as they operate in a similar bubble to the NRL and AFL.
"We’ve been talking to them every week, on Friday night, we were on a call with all the women’s players going through what it means,” he explained.
“We’re going to have six weeks of tennis, more tennis and events than ever before.
“We’re going to start around December when all the players will come in for two weeks of quarantine in cities around Australia and for those two weeks, we’re creating a bubble from the hotel to the courts in a training environment not too dissimilar with the AFL and NRL,
“By then, we expect the border to be completely open and we can move from city to city and then come down to Melbourne for the Australian Open.
“There are going to be more events, more tennis for people to watch not only in Australia but around the world and our goal is to keep getting more people to watch.”
He also confirmed that they are expecting the likes of Serena Williams and Roger Federer to make the trip down under, with Federer opting against participating in the French and US Open.
“Roger this morning confirmed publically that he’ll be here,” he added.
“Serena Williams will be here, obviously trying to get Margaret Court’s record,
“We’re excited about the players that will be here and what we are putting on.”
