Bianca Andreescu's coach Sylvain Bruneau announced he tested positive for COVID-19 upon arrival in Melbourne in advance of the Australian Open on Saturday.
"I have followed all of the safety protocols and procedures, including testing negative within 72 hours before the flight departure and felt perfectly fine when I boarded the plane," part of his statement (via Tennis Canada) read. Bruneau added he had no idea how he contracted the virus while in Abu Dhabi. Andreescu has been training in the Middle East since at least Dec. 22 per her Instagram.
From coach Sylvain Bruneau regarding his positive COVID-19 test in Australia: pic.twitter.com/vKUKzMPQDB
— Tennis Canada (@TennisCanada) January 16, 2021
"I am extremely saddened and sorry for the consequences now on everyone's shoulders sharing my flight," the statement concluded. "The rest of my team is negative and I sincerely hope that any further disruption is kept to a minimum."
Due to the positive test on the flight, Andreescu and the other passengers — including 22 other players — must adhere to a strict quarantine. Players were supposed to be allowed to train for five hours per day.
"All passengers from the flight are already in quarantine hotels and the positive case, who is not a player and had tested negative before the flight, has been transferred to a health hotel," a statement from the tournament read. "The 23 players on the flight will not be able to leave their hotel room for 14 days and until they are medically cleared, they will not be eligible to practice."
This flight is the second one to have been impacted by a positive test. Two positive cases were found on a flight to Melbourne from Los Angeles, resulting in 24 players and their teams forced into isolation in their hotel rooms.
The news is another blow to Andreescu, who hasn't played a competitive match since late October 2019. She suffered a knee injury against Karolina Pliskova in Shenzhen, China, at the WTA Finals. Andreescu was slated to get back on the court, but pulled out of Indian Wells just prior to the tournament's cancellation due to the pandemic. In September, Bruneau revealed to CTV News Montreal that they "were able to start (training) again in May and June when things were starting to open ... then she got injured again."
The 2019 US Open champion did not play in the 2020 edition and skipped the Australian and French Opens as well (Roland Garros was played in September after New York and the other Grand Slam, Wimbledon, was canceled.) The Mississauga, Ont., native officially shut down her 2020 season when she announced she would not play in Paris.
Despite not playing all year, Andreescu is currently ranked No. 7 in the world. In a long-ranging November interview with TennisMajors.com's Alize Lim, the Canadian star was asked if she'll be in Melbourne for the Australian Open, to which she responded: "Yes, 100 percent."
Now she'll have to do it without a lot of practice time, which isn't great news for any of the players — let alone someone who hasn't played competitively in over a year.
The Aussie Open is slated to begin on Feb. 8 — which is in 23 days.