MELBOURNE (AUSTRALIA) – Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka will join Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic in wielding the racquet during a pre-Australian Open warm-up exhibition in Adelaide after undergoing quarantine, said Tennis Australia (TA) on Saturday.
Titled “A Day at the Drive”, the event is slated to take place at the Memorial Drive Tennis Centre on Jan. 29, a week before the Grand Slam begins at Melbourne Park.
Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley had already flagged that Ash Barty and Simona Halep would be among the eight players involved in the exhibition with US Open champion Dominic Thiem now confirmed as the third man.
Adelaide will also host a WTA tour 500 level event, the Adelaide International, in the week after the Australian Open as TA look to give players every opportunity to compete after travelling Down Under and isolating for two weeks.
“These two tournaments are a real coup for South Australia,” state Premier Steven Marshall said in a news release.
“This is a real show of support for the way that South Australia has managed the COVID-19 pandemic and underlines our ability to attract world-class events.”
Other warm-up tournaments, including a shortened version of the ATP Cup involving Nadal, Djokovic and Thiem, will be held in Melbourne before the Australian Open.
Hundreds of players and entourages will arrive in Australia from Jan. 15 and undergo a mandatory quarantine as part of COVID-19 health protocols for the Asia-Pacific Grand Slam.
The players will be allowed five hours a day outside their hotel rooms to train during their mandatory isolation and Tiley told the Tennis Channel that health regulations would be the same in Adelaide.
However, the Sydney Morning Herald said the Adelaide hotel, with gym facilities, would offer much better accommodation for the players than those on offer in Melbourne.
France’s Jeremy Chardy, ranked 72nd in the world, was not happy with the decision on the Adelaide tournament and feared that top players isolating in the city would benefit from extra privileges.
