The 2021 Australian Open is Here. Now What?
The Australian Open traditionally kicks off the tennis season as the first major or Grand Slam tennis tournament. However, this year’s Australian Open made more headlines than usual before a tennis ball was even struck in Melbourne, Australia.
With all the debate over whether professional sports should occur during the pandemic, those pros and cons took extra significance as pros from around the world traveled to Australia before the event even started.
Now that’s it about to kick off this Sunday (or Monday if you are “Down Under”), the question remains — will it be worth it?
Melbourne endured a very strict lockdown back in October that has since allowed the city’s residents to return to some kind of normal life under what are called “Covid Normal” policies. That return to life pre-2020 appeared in jeopardy once the pros, and their various teams, started arriving in Australia. Especially when several passengers (not players) on the various flights into Australia tested positive.
That resulted in the players having to go into strict 14-day quarantine. A result that made headlines around the world, including the morning television shows here in the United States that rarely talk about tennis.
Eventually, the players were allowed to leave their hotel rooms to compete in several warm-up events before the Australian Open start. And while the prospect of the Australian Open actually taking place, including with a limited number of fans on-site (again due to Australia’s strict lockdown), is heartening to many tennis fans, some still openly wonder if the event should be taking place at all.
When asked these questions, tournament organizers repeatedly stress that not to do so could threaten the very existence of the event in Australia. The organizers say that the event could well end up in China or elsewhere in Asia. While that’s always a remote possibility, it’s hard to see how one of the longest-running and biggest professional tennis events in the sport's history would leave the continent due to the event not taking place.
The reality remains that the Australian Open is taking place the year due to economics. Tennis Australia wants the revenue that the event generates, from sponsors, the television networks who pay exorbitant contracts to cover the event, and the fans who pay tickets (although this year that revenue will be limited).
As someone who’s watched professional tennis for many years and covered it for over ten years, my thoughts on this are, well mixed. While I support the tournament organizers' efforts to host a safe event for all those involved, I also worry that something could happen to jeopardize the event’s schedule should just one, or more, players test positive during the two-week tournament. What happens if a player test positive during the quarterfinals, or semifinals, or even the final?
How will that impact the event and its ramifications on potentially changing tennis history — based on who wins the event. Do we really want a final where the winner is determined because someone has to forfeit playing in the final because they tested positive?
I don’t know what will happen in the next two weeks at the Australian Open. All I can hope for is the best. And that’s all the tournament organizers, and players can hope for too.
Here are some links for more insights.