Australian Open can’t afford one miss after hotel quarantine scrutiny

The 2021 Australian Open begins at match point down. Tennis Australia and the state government will spend the next fortnight in the Novak Djokovic position, bouncing the ball over and over on the line. They would not want to double fault.

They're at one. Public sentiment has turned against the event. Two factors have fed this. One is the coincidence of Victorian residents stranded outside the state and Australians marooned outside the country while tennis players waltz in.

The other is a series of intemperate social media posts from players about the hardships of their confinement, aggravating to Victorians who spent months under house arrest to cleanse the state of coronavirus.

It demonstrated enormous civic pride, which in turn makes the tennis players sound like prize punks. It's not all of them, but like the virus itself, it only takes one to ruin it for many. At least Alize Cornet had the good grace to delete and apologise.

Compounding the damage was a list of demands from Djokovic to Tennis Australia to massage restrictions, which emerged on Monday.

This is the same Djokovic who as the virus began to wreak havoc in Europe last year led a troupe of players on a sashay up and down the Balkan peninsula, spreading more bugs than cheer, until he picked it up and had to call the whole show off. He had his vaccine: it was youth and fitness, and that appeared to be all that mattered.

Also on Monday, Djokovic was summarily rebuffed.

So it is that even among tennis fans, phlegmatism has turned to apprehension, to indignation. To organisers and promoters, the net was just winched a few centimetres higher. A friend, a casual tennis follower, put it this way: by February 8, taking into account the players who now say they wish they hadn't come and the fans who think the same, it might be hard to raise a quorum.

All is not lost. The disgruntled players will pipe down once they realise they are a minority, that no one cares, the rules are not going to change and millions of people around the world are making far greater sacrifices than them.

The hotel quarantine system is rigorous and elaborate and you can be sure there are clear lines of authority this time. Breaches will be punished by fines, withdrawal of prizemoney, deportation and even a ban from future tournaments in Australia, which ought to concentrate minds wonderfully.

Statistically, the chances of an outbreak are small. The Sydney Test match was played against a backdrop of a flare-up and in defiance of some health advice and much community unease and went off without a hitch (unless you were an Indian outfielder). That said, some health experts in Melbourne think that even a small chance is too big.

Crucially, the quarantine period finishes at the end of January. That gives players a warm-up window when released. It also means that by the time the Open starts, the palpable tension of this time already will be fading in the minds of players, fans and citizens.

When play begins, tennis will be its own salve. For better or worse, a big sports event casts a spell that smooths over any and every problem in the prelude. It happens at every Olympic Games. You can be sure that both TA and the government are depending on it.

Until then, nerves will jangle in every office and forecourt. One fault only, no let call, no Hawkeye. If authorities don't land this one, heads will roll like new balls from a can.

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