Melbourne Park will be split up into three different precincts in order to ensure the safety of fans heading to February's Australian Open.
With the tournament just over a month away, Tennis Australian CEO Craig Tiley said that the February 8 start date would remain, despite having to abandon the Westin Melbourne as accommodation for the players after complaints from residents in the penthouses.
Tiley was full of praise for the collaboration between the Victorian government, Quarantine Victoria and the Australian Open team for putting together a plan that "seemed logistically unfathomable".
"People will see when they come on-site that it'll be a very different experience," he told Nine News Melbourne.
"The site will be divided up into three zones, but the entertainment and the experience that you get in each zone will be special.
"It'll be like nothing we've had before - there will be a (Margaret Court Arena) zone, a Rod Laver Arena zone and a John Cain Arena zone. You'll be able to see matches on outside courts, matches in the stadium with the best players in the world, as well as enjoying premium food and hospitality.
"That's designed so if we have to get to a contact tracing point we're able to do it very quickly with smaller numbers."
Tiley added that fans buying a ticket to any of the three zones will be restricted to that zone for the entire day's play.
"You'll buy a ticket for the MCA zone or the Rod Laver Arena zone or the JCA zone and you'll be guaranteed to have a seat in a stadium," he said.
"If you're in certain zones you'll get access to outside courts as well where you will have a seat reserved. We've just replicated it three times and in that way we don't have massive crowds just in one precinct."
Despite having a 11th-hour accommodation re-shuffle, Tiley said the AO had several contingencies in place, with a new venue to be announced next week.
"We've had contingencies and back-up plans all along and we've just enacted our back-up plan," he said.
"All along we've said we need to ensure the safety of not only the fans, but the community, as well as the players, and we believe we have the processes in place to ensure that is the case.
When we bring the players in for the 14 days of quarantine there's a testing regime every single day.
"It'll be a group that is the most tested of anyone ever anywhere and there will also be a testing regime before they get on an aeroplane coming out."
from WWOS https://wwos.nine.com.au/tennis/craig-tiley-reveals-three-zone-plan-australian-open-2021-biosecurity-measures/4260cbcd-bb8c-4cea-8897-0a905ef8e019
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