Australian Open boss admits tennis stars all but certain to reject hard quarantine

Australian Open boss Craig Tiley says the world’s best tennis players will almost certainly refuse to quarantine for 14 days again in Melbourne next summer.

But he’s confident the grand slam will still go ahead in just over six months time.

There is concern the Australian Open could be the next event Melbourne loses after the Formula 1 Grand Prix and MotoGP were cancelled this week.

It’s understood Australia’s strict quarantine requirements, which government refuses to budge on because of Australia’s low vaccination rate, were a major factor in the events being canned.

Speaking on 3AW, Mr Tiley said tennis players weren’t overly receptive to the idea of being locked in hotel rooms for a fortnight again.

“At this point, in our initial conversations with them, that’s not something they’re going to be open to, simply because that’s not what they’re currently doing around the world,” he said.

But he said he fully expect the event to go ahead in Melbourne.

“There’s a lot of work to be done over the coming months,” Mr Tiley said.

Press PLAY below to hear Craig Tiley explain the latest

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