Craig Tiley: We're going to have all the players. Working on ensuring wow experiences

Tennis  - Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley has said that he is confident of the Australian Open event going ahead in January 2021 with all the top players.

Last month, the state of Victoria – where the Australian Open is held in the city of Melbourne – imposed new lockdown measures after a surge in the number of coronavirus cases. Stage four restrictions have been in effect across metropolitan Melbourne since early August and would last for six weeks.

Craig Tiley on the 2021 Australian Open

In a message to fans (see video below), Tiley says, "It's great to have an opportunity to be in front of you and give you an update on what is happening with the Australian Open in 2021.

"First off, I hope that you are all safe and well and thank you for your incredible loyalty, your friendship and your support of the Australian Open.

"You are very special guests. We are in a different world today. While we are known as the happy slam, in 2021 it's going to be 'the very safe and happy slam'.

"We will continue to ensure that you will have the wow experiences that you are so used to us delivering on, and in 2021 we are going to have all the players and all the top players.

"It will be a special year. While we may have limited fans on site and a limited number on site, we are not going to limit the great experience that we provide all of our loyal supporters like yourselves.

"In the meantime, stay safe, stay healthy, we look forward to being in touch and we definitely look forward to welcoming you to a very special Australian Open in 2021."

In earlier interviews, Tiley had said that the tournament was looking at various options including having bio-bubbles. "We're going to open our bio-bubble from the first of December and players can come at any time."

He also said that he was optimistic that the tournament will have some fans. "It will have some crowds and it'll be the beginning of kind of getting back to the way we were."

Novak Djokovic won the men's singles title at the Australian Open in January while Sofia Kenin won the women's singles title. The 2021 Australian Open is scheduled to be held from January 18 to 31, 2021.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/31VPRvy