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Tennis fans should be patient: the Australian Open, the first major tournament of the year, has been postponed. Organizers announced this on Thursday. Consequently, the Grand Slam tournament in Down Under will not start in January, as usual, but only in February. Specifically, the date is now set for February 8-21.
The reason is the coronavirus pandemic. It was long speculated that the Melbourne tournament would have to be postponed due to the difficult situation in the players’ home countries. Organizers also announced strict measures on Thursday: Qualified players and their support teams will have to go through a mandatory 14-day quarantine after arriving in Australia.
Federer’s wish is heard
The postponement of the Australian Open should please Swiss tennis fans. Roger Federer (39), who is in the preparation phase after two operations on his knee, recently cast doubt on whether his planned comeback could take place in Melbourne. “It’s getting closer. I recently did a lot in the area of conditioning and physical therapy. Now comes tennis,” Federer said at the Sports Awards weekend.
Federer still hoped that the first big tournament of the year would be postponed until February 8. “That would help me, because then I would have a little more time,” says the teacher. This is exactly what has happened now!
“We will see”: Here Roger Federer indicates his resignation(00:56)
Corona situation in Australia: Hardly any cases
Australia is largely free of coronavirus. However, there are always isolated cases of coronavirus infection that are meticulously followed by authorities and subject to strict quarantine. Two cases of coronavirus were only discovered in Sydney on Wednesday; The entire environment of those affected and all possible contacts had to be tested for the corona virus immediately and went into self-isolation.
Such situations have always led to outright travel bans between individual Australian states in recent months. National borders have been tight for months, even for thousands of Australians abroad. (nim / SDA)
