Hope for spectators, but still far from normal

Roger Federer, on the other hand, is absent after his knee surgery in Australia. Its comeback is planned for February or March.

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Next week Belinda Bencic and Stan Wawrinka will intervene in the competition for the first time this year. The preparatory tournaments for the Australian Open are under a special star.

At least the Australian Open from February 8th promises something like normality. Up to 50 percent of the spectator seats should be filled at the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, and the players and their supervisors are allowed to move freely, i.e. not in a bubble. Richard Gasquet was one of the first to be released from quarantine. “The first thing I look forward to is a meal in the restaurant,” said the Frenchman. «They are all closed at home. I am very happy to be in Australia. “

In fact, Gasquet is one of the lucky ones, because after his arrival – like Stan Wawrinka and Jil Teichmann – he was allowed to go into the “soft” quarantine and out five hours a day to train. 72 players – including Belinda Bencic and Henri Laaksonen – were not allowed to leave their hotel room for 14 days because they were on one of the three charter flights on which travelers tested positive for the corona virus upon arrival. But her ordeal should be over by Friday at the latest.

In Melbourne itself, life will feel relatively normal, because there have been no positive cases in the capital of the state of Victoria for 22 days. Accordingly, there will even be spectators in the stadiums at the start of the Australian tennis summer.

Six tournaments in the same location

The coming week will be anything but normal again. For the first time in the history of sport there will be no fewer than three official men’s and three women’s tournaments at the same location: the ATP Cup with twelve nations, two ATP tournaments in the 250 category with players who are not part of the ATP Cup, as well as three WTA 500-category tournaments – all in the same week at the Melbourne Park facility.

Jil Teichmann (WTA 57) will be the first Swiss woman to fight for WTA points in the so-called Gippsland Trophy. The left-hander from Biel will meet top-class opponents such as the top ten players Simona Halep, Naomi Osaka, Jelina Switolina and Aryna Sabalenka in the tournament that begins on Sunday.

The Grampians Trophy only starts on Wednesday in order to give the athletes affected by the strict quarantine the longest possible preparation time. Belinda Bencic (WTA 12) is number 2 behind Bianca Andreescu, the 2019 US Open winner from Canada.

Wawrinka at the top

The men whose tournaments begin on Monday were not given a closed season. Since all the top ten players who traveled to Australia are involved in the ATP Cup, the Belgian David Goffin (ATP 16) and the 35-year-old Stan Wawrinka (ATP 18) from Vaud are top placed at the two events. According to paper, the toughest opponents of the 2014 Australian Open Champions are Grigor Dimitrov, Félix Auger-Aliassime and Borna Coric.

There were no complaints about the quarantine from Adelaide. Trick: In the capital of South Australia, the top stars Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Dominic Thiem, Serena Williams, Ashleigh Barty, Osaka and Halep received a VIP setting. As a thank you, they play an exhibition there on Friday before moving to Melbourne.

How many spectators will then be allowed into the stadiums is still the subject of negotiations with the authorities. The people in charge at Tennis Australia sold tickets for 35 percent of the capacity, but are still hoping for an increase to 50 percent.