Australian Open: how Covid is shaping the tennis tournament – explainer

Quarantined tennis players, fan ‘pods’ and much smaller crowds. Here’s how the 2021 Australian Open is shaping up amid the pandemic

The Australian Open traditionally makes headlines weeks before it starts because it’s the first grand slam of the season.

This year, however, the early focus is on charter flights, coronavirus-positive passengers, and frustrated tennis players practising strokes against walls and upturned mattresses in hotel quarantine.