The world's best tennis players began arriving in Australia on Thursday to serve a 14-day quarantine before the start of the tour that will begin in Melbourne on January 31. with two men's tournaments, the ATP Cup, two other women's and the first Grand Slam of the course. The top three in the ranking, with the exception of local Barty who does not have to confine herself, plus Serena Williams, will pass the confinement in Adelaide and there will participate in an exhibition on January 29. Djokovic, Nadal and Thiem flew together on Wednesday from Barcelona on an organization flight. On Thursday they reached their destination, like Halep and Osaka. Bautista also traveled via Abu Dhabi, from where Muguruza left, the starting point, along with Doha, Dubai and Los Angeles, of the 15 official planes with 25% occupancy that had to take off in 36 hours as part of a strict protocol.
Daily tests
Players and their teams must certify a negative PCR test before traveling, pass another on arrival and remain isolated until the result is known. During quarantine they will undergo daily checks.
Confinement in hotels
With the exception of the top who are in Adelaide with an older team and family, and who will have a gym 24 hours a day, the rest are staying in three hotels in Melbourne (Grand Hyatt, Pullman and View) and can only leave the room five hours a day with a companion to exercise and practice in Melbourne Park, the National Tennis Center and the Albert Reserve. On the return they must pass a test. In these residences, specially equipped for social distancing and staffed by personnel who have already passed two weeks of quarantine, alarms have been installed to prevent illegal exits.
Closed training groups. To avoid contagion, the players will organize themselves into fixed training groups that will be extended from the second week of confinement. Nadal, for example, will rally with Sinner and Marc López; and Muguruza, with Riske, Bouzkova and Sorribes.
Expulsion and fine
Any of the 1,200 people involved who skip the protocol will be expelled from the bubble, out of the country and fined 20,000 Australian dollars (almost 13,000 euros).
Incentives
The organization rewards tennis players who come alone to Australia with 7,000 dollars (4,500 euros), the money for the maintenance that their companions would receive, since in an extraordinary way they pay the expenses of a player and a member of the team.