Australian Open to allow spectators

Rod Laver Arena (Wikimedia Commons)

According to the BBC, there will be 30,000 spectators allowed per day over the first week at the 2020 Australian Open. That is due to the fact Australia has had only seven new cases of coronavirus in the last 24 hours.

There is no doubt that Australia has done an admirable job in containing the pandemic. However, by allowing 30,000 fans a day, one must question if the Australian government and organizers are showing a degree of complacency.

A total of 72 players were confined to their hotel room over the last two weeks because they were on planes coming to Australia where there was a positive coronavirus case. One positive case was Sylvain Bruneau, coach of Canadian tennis superstar Bianca Andreescu. Meanwhile, Paula Bedosa of Spain tested positive after criticizing Australia’s coronavirus rules. 

At this time tennis fans across the world hope that we can literally just focus as much as we can on what is happening on the court rather than coronavirus. If the players, all levels of the Australian government, and Tennis Australia to take all precautions necessary, that dream could be a reality.

There were no spectators at the 2020 U.S. Open, however coronavirus had decimated the state of New York. In France, there were limited spectators, but only 1000 per day.

What will be happening for two weeks in Australia next month is quite frankly unprecedented during these unpredictable times.It should be noted that once the quarterfinals start, the attendance capacity will drop from 30,000 to 25,000. The Rod Laver Arena capacity is 14,820, so it will be interesting to see what tournament organizers do when all of the major matches will be played there.

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