Tennis: Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament, played in Melbourne from 08 to 21/02/2021

"We are going to send a message to the rest of the world: Melbourne (AUS) is the capital of sport in Australia and perhaps even of the planet," announced Craig Tiley, director of the Australian Open, the day before the launch of the 109^th edition of the Australian tennis grand slam tournament, on 07/02/2021.

The Australian Open, scheduled from 08 to 21/02/2021 at the Melbourne Park site, will thus be able to accommodate up to 30,000 fans per day, a number reduced to 25,000 over the last five days of tournament. The tournament was originally scheduled from 18 to 31/01/2021 and first postponed on 16/12/2020.

"Over the 14 days we will have up to 390,000 people here in Melbourne Park, which is about 50% of the average for the past three years. It will be the most important international event with an audience that the world has seen in months," said Martin Pakula, Minister of Sport in the Victoria State (region) Government, on 30/01/2021.

The health crisis has generated, in addition to the reduction in the size of the tournament, additional logistical costs and in particular that of…