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Tennis players and officials who travelled to Melbourne for the Australian Open have started being released from hotel quarantine, confirmed COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria (CQV).

With the first of the tournament's players and support staff having arrived in Australia two weeks ago, they have since been in a specially-designated hotel quarantine program.

With media having focused on player complaints about the process, CQV said 960 Australian Open personal who have returned a negative COVID-19 test and have no symptoms are being cleared to leave quarantine in the coming days.

The Victorian Government agency advised in a statement yesterday "players and participants will begin departing from 6pm (Thursday) evening, with the last departures expected to be complete by Sunday."

However, those who have tested positive have to stay in isolation until they get medical clearance to leave.

There are five active positive cases and 321 active primary close contacts remaining in the Australian Open hotel quarantine program, the latest update from CQV said.

Over the two weeks, a total of eight COVID-19 infections were detected, not including previous cases that were later cleared as false positives.

New Australian Open lead-in schedule
Earlier this week Tennis Australia advised that the Australian Open lead-in week has been revamped to help give the 72 players in the 14-day quarantine lockdown the best possible preparation and training opportunities.

Following extensive consultation between the players and the ATP and WTA, Tennis Australia released a new schedule, taking into account the limited time many players have had to prepare.

There will now be three WTA 500 events - the two originally planned from Sunday 31st January to Saturday 6the February, with slightly reduced draw sizes. A third event, for those players who’ve been unable to train, will commence on Wednesday 3rd and finish on Sunday 7th February.

The two ATP events and ATP Cup will be pushed back by 24 hours. The two ATP 250 events will commence on Monday 1st February, each featuring an increased singles main draw size of 56, while the ATP Cup will start on Tuesday 2nd February.

Australian Open Tournament Director Craig Tiley advised "this has been a particularly challenging time for the athletes in hard lockdown and we, along with the WTA and ATP, aim to do everything we can to help.

“These changes to the lead-in events have been made to give the 72 players a little bit of extra time to help them prepare. We also will prioritise them for things like practice sessions, gym and ice baths.”

WTA Chief Executive, Steve Simon welcomed the changes, commenting “this revised schedule comprised of three WTA 500 events in the week leading into the upcoming Australian Open will allow for our athletes coming out of the respected quarantine period to properly focus on their preparation in a return to competition,”  said.

“We appreciate the positive spirit of collaboration demonstrated by our friends at Tennis Australia and the ATP as these solutions were worked through in recent days. All of our players appreciate the opportunity to be here in Melbourne and look forward to getting on the court to compete and entertain the terrific fans that are here with some great tennis over the weeks ahead in what will be a very a safe and healthy environment.”

ATP Chairman, Andrea Gaudenzi added "our number one goal with Tennis Australia and the WTA was to be as fair as possible to the players coming out of a hard quarantine.

“The extra 24 hours before the first ATP Tour events together with priority over practice and preparation will help. We are eager to start what I am sure will be a fantastic summer of tennis in Melbourne in front of our great Australian fans.”

The Australian Open starts at Melbourne Park on 8th February.

Image shows Melbourne Park from the air.

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