Australian Open 2021 to happen or not? Tournament set to face new, unexpected challenge

It's been a hard few months for Tennis Australia, the organizers of the Australian Open 2021, facing multiple challenges from the Victoria State Government, players and now, locals, regarding the marquee Grand Slam tournament. The Australian Open schedule has been significantly reworked in order to allow for all the changes recommended by the government and health services, including a mandatory 14-day quarantine for all players and the creation of a bio-bubble, despite (or to ensure) the lack of cases in Melbourne. With everything finally looking like it was in place, it seems like TA may have one last hurdle on their hands.  

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Australian Open 2021 faces possible legal threat 

According to reports in the Sydney Morning Herald, the owners of 36 penthouse apartments at the Westin Melbourne have threatened to launch a legal challenge in order to force Tennis Australia to find alternative locations to quarantine players coming in for the tournament. As of now, the hotel is the only location available to players as they arrive in Melbourne between January 15-16 - in time to quarantine and play from the rescheduled February 8th opening date of the tournament. Permanent residents of the Westin are now claiming that they were not consulted before this huge step was taken and are willing to go to the country's supreme court to stop it from happening. 

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Despite TA CEO Craig Tiley's continuous confirmations that each of the players will be tested before they leave for Melbourne on private planes and will only be allowed to use the practice facilities outside the hotel once they have returned two negative tests, the influential residents of the apartments remain sceptical. “It’s incredibly arrogant to ambush us this way as if it’s a done deal. There are substantive public health and legal issues that have not even been examined,” one of the apartment owners, Mark Nicholson told SMH. 

Famous hotelier Digby Lewis also made a statement, saying “At 84, I’m in the vulnerable group and it’s shocking the way they tried to ram this through without any attempt to consult with us. I’m more than happy to toss in $10,000 or $20,000 to help the legal fight; it’s bloody shocking”. The apartment owners rightfully share about 30 per cent of the common areas within the hotel so their concerns are not completely unfounded, but the same SMH article suggests that players may not have any contact with residents at all, with provisions made for separate elevators, entrances and even restricted air circulation. 

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Tennis schedule 2021

The first Slam of the year, despite its heavy restrictions, is expected to draw all the big names including Men's No. 1 and 2 Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, former No. 1 Andy Murray and a horde of youngsters like Dominic Thiem, Alexander Zverev and Andrey Rublev. The Women's draw is also expected to have Ash Barty, Simona Halep, Serena Williams, Petra Kvitova among others.

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Image Credits: AP