Tennis: Australian Open, scheduled from 18 to 31/01/2021, could be postponed for one or two weeks

The Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tennis tournament of the 2021 season, scheduled to take place from 18 to 31/01/2021 at Melbourne Park in Melbourne (AUS), is "likely" to be postponed for a week or two, according to Martin Pakula, Minister for Sport for the Parliament of Victoria (State which includes the city of Melbourne) on 25/11/2020.

"I still think it's much more likely that it will be a shorter rather than a longer delay," said Pakula, while "negotiations are ongoing" between the Australian government and Tennis Australia, the organising body of the competition, whose chief executive Craig Tiley announced "Tennis Australia is doing everything we can to finalise the summer of tennis as soon as possible", on 22/11/2020.

In addition to the Australian Open, other Australian tournaments are under threat, such as the ATP Cup (competition by nation at three different venues) or the Auckland and Adelaide tournaments (see calendar below). The director of the Tennis Australia hoped to be able to bring players into the country by mid-December 2020, so that they could complete…