Australian Open: Andy Murray tests positive for coronavirus

Former world number one Andy Murray’s participation at the Australian Open is in doubt after the Briton tested positive for coronavirus.

Instead he remains in quarantine and isolating at home in London.

Murray, who is said to be in good health, remains hopeful he will be allowed to travel safely at a later date and compete as planned.

The five-time Australian Open runner-up pulled out of last week’s ATP event in Delray Beach as he wanted to “minimise the risks” of catching a transatlantic flight to Florida.

The Australian Open will start on 8 February at Melbourne Park, three weeks later than usual, because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Players must test negative before taking one of the 15 chartered flights – which have been put on by tournament organisers and will operate at 25% capacity – to Australia.

Once they have arrived, they will have to pass a series of Covid tests during a 14-day quarantine in Melbourne before the Grand Slam.

Murray’s planned appearance at Melbourne Park will come two years after he played there in what he feared would be his final match as a professional.

At 122nd in the world, Murray is ranked too low to gain direct entry into the tournament so the three-time Grand Slam champion has been given a wildcard.

Murray was able to play only seven official matches in 2020 because of a lingering pelvic injury, and the five-month suspension of the tours because of the pandemic.

The Scot is the latest player to have his plans disrupted, with world number two Rafael Nadal travelling to Melbourne in search of a record 21st Grand Slam men’s singles title without coach Carlos Moya, who has decided to stay at home in Spain with his family because of the health situation.

World number three Dominic Thiem’s coach Nicolas Massu has also not travelled after a positive Covid test, Thiem’s father Wolfgang told Austrian newspaper Kurier.

Sandgren boards flight despite positive test

American player Tennys Sandgren, meanwhile, boarded a charter plane to Melbourne despite testing positive for coronavirus.

The world number 50, a two-time Australian Open quarter-finalist, tweeted that after testing positive in November he had returned another positive on Monday and might not be able to fly on Wednesday.

But Australian Open organisers said his medical file had been reviewed by Victoria state authorities and he had then been cleared to fly.

They explained that players are only allowed to enter Australia with proof of a negative test done just before departure or “with approval to travel as a recovered case at the complete discretion of an Australian government authority”.

Sandgren tweeted that he had been ill in November but was “totally healthy now”.

“My two tests were less than eight weeks apart,” he wrote. “There’s not a single documented case where I would be contagious at this point.”

Lisa Neville, minister for police and emergency services, tweeted: “Tennys Stangren’s positive result was reviewed by health experts and determined to be viral shedding from a previous infection, so was given the all clear to fly.

“No-one who is Covid positive for the first time – or could still be infectious – will be allowed in for the Aus Open.”