Mid-Tournament Lockdown During 2021 Australian Open: Silent Tennis?

The Australian Open is one of the four most prominent annual tennis tournaments in the world alongside the French Open, Wimbledon, and U.S. Open. These events, commonly known as the Grand Slam tournaments, are anticipated by many in the tennis world; players vie for the #1 spot for the prizes, ranking points, and, of course, the chance to be recognized on the world stage. Spectators also enjoy the action-packed tennis matches featuring star players such as Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Rafael Nadal. In the midst of COVID-19, however, the Australian Open had to adapt; masks were made mandatory for walking around, three distinct zones were formed for contact tracing, and players and staff were separated from the crowd so that the tournament could go on despite potential lockdown restrictions. International players and staff went through a two-week quarantine period and around half were forced to quarantine for extra time due to a COVID-19 case discovered at one of the quarantine hotels. Additionally, plans were made to impose a maximum limit of 30,000 spectators each day starting on February 8 (the first day of the tournament) until the quarter-finals began, where the limit would be reduced to 25,000. Public health experts remained optimistic in the face of the pandemic, claiming that safety was not a big issue: according to Catherine Bennett, an associate professor at Deakin University, “[i]t is very unlikely that something will stem from this event. The tennis itself is as safe as it can be. The risk in the wider community is also very low … there’s such a small chance that something will go wrong and that you would be seated in the stands next to somebody who is positive for COVID.”

On the first day, 17,922 spectators flooded Melbourne Park to see the tennis players in action at the Australian Open. Despite an underwhelming audience (2020’s Australian Open had 64,387 spectators on the first day), players embraced the opportunity as the Australian Open was the first major tournament to permit substantial crowds: Venus Williams, a professional female tennis player at the Australian Open, states, "[c]ompared to what we were playing [in front of] last year, which is zero, this is huge. I am not complaining. It's exciting. I think every single person there was probably in awe to be sitting at a sporting event, as much as I was to have them there." However, it was not long after that disaster struck—an outbreak of COVID cases from the Holiday Inn in Melbourne reached thirteen victims, all of whom were believed to have the highly contagious UK variation of COVID, on February 11, resulting in a five-day lockdown for Victoria, the state where Melbourne is located. The Australian Open continued on without the audience, but players indicated that the experience just wasn’t the same. Elina Svitolina, a player who matched up against Yulia Putintseva in a silent court, indicated that “[n]ow, it was completely different. It was for sure a bit disturbing, I would say, in some ways sad.” Serena Williams, former No. 1 female tennis player also participating in the Australian Open, recognized that the lockdown, albeit necessary, posed a challenge that would be difficult to overcome: “[i]t’s going to be a rough few days for I think everyone, but we’ll hopefully get through it. But, you know what, at the end of the day we have to do what’s best. Hopefully, it will be all right.”

The lockdown ended at midnight of the 17th, allowing fans back in for the singles semi-finals and finals. This time, the crowd capacity was limited to 7,477 per session, around half the usual capacity. Craig Tilley, the director of the Australian Open, indicated that many looked forward to the last four days of the tournament with the return of the crowds as the previous non-lockdown state was the “first real experience of live sport with fans in the stands and the atmosphere was electric.” Despite the challenges of an unexpected lockdown, Novak Djokovic and Naomi Osaka claimed victory as the men’s and women’s singles champions. This win boosts Djokovic’s Grand Slam tournament wins to 18, just shy of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal’s record 20 Grand Slam tournament wins. Naomi Osaka’s Australian Open victory, of which she remarks, “[a]bsolute madness,” makes it her fourth Grand Slam tournament win. Reflecting back on the crowd’s return, Djokovic mentions how the audience motivated him in the finals: “We probably had more than half the stadium full and I thought the atmosphere was electric. Serbian supporters were really loud and brought a lot of energy to the stadium and to myself. . . . playing in such an atmosphere always gives you wings, it gives you wind in the sails, in a way. I started off the match very strongly from the first point and I kept that momentum going all the way through. They were one of the biggest reasons why I played the way I played last night.”