Serena and Osaka will join the best men as the Australian Open approaches

• Reuters, MELBOURNE, Australia

Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka will join Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic for a pre-Australian Open warm-up exhibition in Adelaide after serving their quarantine in the South Australian city, Tennis Australia (TA) said yesterday.

The “A Day at the Drive” event will take place at the Memorial Drive Tennis Center on January 29, a week before the delayed Grand Slam begins at Melbourne Park.

Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley had already noted that Ash Barty and Simona Halep would be among eight players involved in the display with US Open champion Dominic Thiem now confirmed as the third man.

Adelaide will also host a WTA Tour 500 level event, the Adelaide International, in the week after the Australian Open, as Tennis Australia looks to give players every opportunity to compete after traveling Australia and isolating themselves for two weeks.

“These two tournaments are a real blow to South Australia,” South Australian Prime Minister Steven Marshall said in a press release.

“This is a real show of support for the way South Australia has handled the COVID-19 pandemic and underscores our ability to attract world-class events,” he said.

Hundreds of players and entourages will arrive in Australia starting Friday and undergo a mandatory quarantine as part of the COVID-19 health protocols for the Asia Pacific Grand Slam.

Players will be able to train five hours a day outside of their hotel rooms during their mandatory isolation.

Tiley told the Tennis Channel that the health regulations would be the same in Adelaide.

However, the Sydney Morning Herald said that the Adelaide hotel, with gym facilities, would offer much better accommodation for players than those offered in Melbourne.

France’s Jeremy Chardy, who is ranked 72nd in the world, was unhappy with the decision of the Adelaide tournament and feared that the best isolated players in the city would benefit from additional privileges.

“This announcement for the top three is a bit unexpected, and it’s strange, to put it mildly,” Chardy told L’Equipe.

“They will even be able to benefit from a gym in the hotel and they will be able to do their exercises, which will not count towards the five hour quota,” he said.