Tennis Australia has been doing everything humanly possible to stage a good and fair Australian Open. Craig Tiley, the CEO of Tennis Australia, is very active in finding new solutions for an extremely fluid situation. Unfortunately, 72 players had to endure a strict quarantine without the possibility to leave their room after people on their plane to Australia were found positive for Coronavirus. Besides the obvious discomfort, there are some legit worried about how their chances to have a good run at the Australian Open after being inactive for so much time. Big names such as Bianca Andreescu, Victoria Azarenka, Sloane Stephens and Angelique Kerber were among the players that had to sustain strict confinement.
The new WTA500
Tennis Australia had the great idea to stage a 3rd WTA500 before the Australian Open for the players in strict confinement. It would be a draw of 28 players and it will be staged from February 3-7. The other 2 WTA500 will be played regularly from January 31-February 6. There will be no more tournaments added on the ATP side.
Craig Tiley commented:
“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.”
Bianca Vanessa Andreescu in 2021
Ranked no.8, Bianca played her last match on the 30th of October 2019 when she had to retire when playing against Karolina Pliskova in the round robin and the scoreline was 6-3 .
Victoria Azarenka in 2021
Ranked world no.13, the Belarussian played her last match on the 25th of October 2020 when she was defeated by Aryna Sabalenka 6-2 6-2 in the final in Ostrava (draw).
Bianca Vanessa Andreescu and Victoria Azarenka have never played each other.
Sloane Stephens in 2021
Now ranked no.40, the American played her last match on the 1st of October 2020 when she lost to Paula Badosa 6-4 4-6 6-2 in the 2nd round of the French Open (draw).
Angelique Kerber in 2021
Now ranked no.25, the German played her last match on the 28th of September 2020 when she was defeated by Kaja Juvan 6-3 6-3 in the 1st round of the French Open (draw).
Sloane Stephens and Angelique Kerber played each other 6 times. The head to head is 5-1 for Stephens. Previously, the last time when they squared off, Sloane Stephens won 6-3 6-3 in the round robin in Singapore (WTA Finals) in October 2018.
