Australian Open facing uncertainty as new Omicron Covid variant causes border delays

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The Australian Open has been thrown into doubt once again over the new Omicron Covid variant. There had been talks of a vaccine mandate at the season-opening Grand Slam for months before it was finally confirmed by tournament director Craig Tiley earlier this month, leaving players like Novak Djokovic in question to compete. Now, the tournament could face further problems after Australia was forced to delay the opening of their borders by two weeks as a result of the new variant.

The Australian Open has faced several barriers in recent months, as government ministers refused to give an exemption to unvaccinated tennis players looking to enter the country to compete.

Tournament director and Tennis Australia boss Craig Tiley confirmed on Saturday November 20 that all players competing in January’s Grand Slam would need to be fully vaccinated.

“There’s a lot of speculation about vaccination and just to be really clear, when the Premier announced that everyone on site will need to be vaccinated, we made that clear to the playing group,” he told reporters.

A leaked email sent by the WTA Player Council after talks with Tiley in October revealed that tournament officials had still been hopeful that unvaccinated players could compete if they underwent a two-week hotel quarantine, but they were unable to convince officials including the Victorian Premier to make an exception, and instead it was confirmed that the jab was mandatory for all players.

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Now, organisers could see their plans for the Grand Slam tournament derailed even more as a result of the new Omicron Covid variant.

The country has been forced to delay the reopening of national borders by two weeks following the discovery of the heavily mutated variant, first detected in South Africa.

International travellers and other eligible visa holders who are vaccinated were due to be allowed into the country from Wednesday (December 1) without needing to quarantine on arrival, but this has been pushed back by two weeks to December 15.

It sparks trouble for the tight window players have to fly to Australia ahead of the warm-up tournaments which begin on January 2.

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Charter flights bringing vaccinated players and personnel into the country are set to land in cities including Melbourne from December 28.

While the delay does not yet impact the date of the flights specifically chartered for tournament staff and competitors, Australian Open organisers cannot afford a second two-week delay, which would see players have just three days to arrive before the lead-up tournaments begin.

The tournament is already looking likely to suffer a blow, as their nine-time champion may not be competing in Melbourne come January.

Novak Djokovic’s chances of competing have been in doubt ever since talks of a vaccine mandate began, as the world No 1 has previously spoken out against mandatory vaccinations in tennis.

Last month, before Tiley confirmed the need to be vaccinated in order to compete, Djokovic told Serbian newspaper Blic: “I don’t know if I’m going to Australia, I don’t know what’s going on. Currently, the situation is not good at all. I have my opinion and it has always been the same. I will not reveal my status whether I have been vaccinated or not.”

His participation was further thrown into question on Sunday when his father told Serbian TV Prva he didn’t think his son would compete as a result of “blackmail” over vaccination.

“As far as vaccines and non-vaccines are concerned, it is the personal right of each of us whether we will be vaccinated or not,” Srdjan Djokovic said.

“Everyone has the right to decide on their health. Will he publish it? I don’t think so. I don’t know that decision either. And if I did, I wouldn’t share it with you. He has the right to decide as he wants.”

The world No 1’s father also slammed government officials for preventing the nine-time champion from returning, adding: “It was embarrassing because of the announcement of those leaders in the provinces of Australia, who gave themselves the right to call out the nine-time champion of Australia.

“Whether he will appear there depends on them how they will pose. He would want it with all his heart because he is an athlete, and we would love that too.

“Under these blackmails and conditions, he probably won’t. I wouldn’t do that. And he’s my son, so you decide for yourself.”

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