Melbourne, Oct. 19 (BNA): Tennis players who have not been vaccinated against the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) are unlikely to get a visa to enter the country for the Australian Open in Melbourne in January, according to the political leader of the host state. Season Opening Pioneer.
Victoria State Premier Daniel Andrews has already provided a mandate for the vaccine for professional athletes competing in local sports leagues and for people who work in some industries including health.
On Tuesday, the pressure on tennis players traveling from abroad increased, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
“I don’t think any tennis player who is not immune will ever get a visa to enter this country,” Andrews said. “If they get a visa, they will probably have to quarantine for two weeks when no other player has to.
“Professional sports are part of the list of authorized workers and they should be vaccinated with a double dose.”
Australia is preparing to reopen its international borders for the first time in more than 18 months, but it will be a country-by-country gradual process starting next month and will depend on vaccination rates across the country. People who have been fully vaccinated will have fewer restrictions in Australia than those who have not been vaccinated.
The debate over vaccination has been ongoing in tennis since international competition began to emerge after the global lockdown last year.
Some players, including men’s top seed Novak Djokovic, have called that the decision to get vaccinated should be a personal choice. Others, including Andy Murray, said it should be mandated in favor of the majority.
At the US Open, which ended on September 12, spectators had to show evidence of at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to attend matches, although players were not required to get a shot.
Two-time Australian Open champion and three-time US Open runner-up Victoria Azarenka thought that sent a mixed message. She reached the US Open final in 2020, when there were no fans allowed.
“For me, it’s a little strange that the fans should be vaccinated and the players are not,” Azarenka said. “So I think in my opinion, it’s inevitable that it will be mandated at some point, as other leagues do.”
The men’s and women’s tours recommend vaccinating all players, but they haven’t yet implemented it. Just before the US Open, nearly half of the elite male and female players were vaccinated.
Ahead of the Australian Open earlier this year, all players had to be quarantined for two weeks and regularly tested in accordance with Australia’s strict regulations on COVID-19 measures.
Most were allowed limited time to train, but anyone who tested positive or was deemed to have been in close contact with a positive case – which in some cases simply meant being on the same charter flight – had to go through a strict lockdown. These players were not allowed to leave their hotel rooms.
Melbourne, which hosts the season’s inaugural Formula One Grand Prix, the southern hemisphere’s richest horse race and Australia’s largest football crowd, has either barred crowds or altered interstate sporting events during months of lockdown in recent months.
RAE