Australian Open: Tennys Sandgren will get OK to fly to Melbourne regardless of COVID-19 consequence

Image Source : GETTY IMAGES File picture of Tennys Sandgren.
Tennys Sandgren compelled an early clarification of the COVID-19 guidelines as the primary of 15 constitution flights started flying Down Under to ship gamers for the Australian Open.
The two-time Australian Open quarterfinalist was given a particular clearance to board one of many flights from Los Angeles to Melbourne regardless of testing constructive to COVID-19 in November and once more on Monday.
The first of about 1,200 gamers, coaches, entourage and officers had been set to land Thursday in Australia.
Under event protocols agreed with Australian authorities authorities, all gamers needed to to return a unfavorable take a look at earlier than boarding their flights to Australia and can be subjected to additional testing on arrival and each day throughout a 14-day interval of quarantine.
The No. 50-ranked Sandgren received an exemption after Australian well being officers assessed his case historical past.
The American participant posted on social media to say he wasn’t contagious and was allowed to affix a delayed flight.
“My two tests were less than 8 weeks apart. I was sick in November, totally healthy now,” Sandgren tweeted. “There’s not a single documented case where I would be contagious at this point. Totally recovered!”
The Australian newspaper printed a web-based story headlined “US tennis ace sparks Aus Open virus fear.
Tennis Australia moved to make clear the scenario in a press release Thursday that outlined gamers who’ve beforehand examined constructive to COVID-19 had been “required to provide additional and highly detailed medical information as proof they are a recovered case and no longer infectious or a risk to the community.”
Tennis Australia added: “In the case of Tennys Sandgren, who has self-disclosed that he previously tested positive in late November, his medical file had to be reviewed by Victorian (state government) health authorities. Upon completion of that review he was cleared to fly.”
The Australian Open has already been delayed three weeks as a result of restrictions in place for the COVID-19 pandemic, and is ready to open on Feb. 8.

On Wednesday, almost 12,000 kilometers (7,500 miles) from Melbourne, the qualifying event was accomplished for the event, with 16 males and 16 girls set to affix the singles principal draw.
The season’s first main has already been delayed by three weeks due to restrictions in place for the pandemic, and the lads’s and girls’s qualifying tournaments — in Doha, Qatar and in Dubai — had been held outdoors of Australia for the primary time.
The girls qualifiers embody two-time Australian Open and Roland Garros doubles champion Timea Babos of Hungary and British participant Francesca Jones, who has a uncommon genetic situation.
Jones has ectrodactyly ectodermal dysplasia, which suggests she was born with three fingers and a thumb on every hand, three toes on her proper foot and 4 toes on her left.
On the lads’s facet, the qualifiers embody 17-year-old ATP newcomer of the yr, Carlos Alcaraz of Spain.
Six girls and 6 males may even journey to Australia as fortunate losers and bear necessary quarantine like the remainder of the worldwide gamers, hoping to get a spot in the principle draw as cowl for accidents or withdrawals. There are 104 direct entries primarily based on rankings for the lads’s and girls’s singles principal draw, plus wild-card entries and the qualifiers.
The 15 flights might be at not more than 25% capability, and can arrive over a 36-hour interval ending early Saturday.
Once a unfavorable consequence has been returned, gamers can prepare inside a strictly supervised atmosphere for five-hours per day, and gamers and their groups might be examined daily throughout quarantine.
The Australian Open draw might be held on Feb. 4, 4 days forward of the beginning of the principle event, which ends Feb. 21 with the lads’s singles last.
Novak Djokovic is the defending males’s champion and Sofia Kenin is the ladies’s defending champion.
Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams might be amongst a gaggle of gamers concerned in an exhibition occasion in Adelaide, South Australia state, on Jan. 29. All different tournaments might be in Melbourne, together with the 12-team ATP Cup beginning Feb. 1 and two WTA occasions within the week main into the Australian Open.