Tiley ‘confident’ Australian Open will go ahead

January’s Australian Open will go ahead “as planned”, according to Tennis Australia chief Craig Tiley.

The new Covid Omicron variant has raised questions about international travel and border restrictions, with Australia’s east coast states delaying the opening of international arrivals for a further two weeks.

But Tiley told the Sydney Morning Herald he was confident the tournament would go ahead.

“There are a lot of unanswered questions around this and I think in the next 14 days we will get some more clarity,” he said.

“But at this point the plans are going ahead as they are.”

The first flights to Australia carrying players are set to arrive on December 27 and Tennis Australia is looking to stage 16 events across the country ahead of the Open, including the ATP Cup which begins on New Year’s Eve in Sydney.

Current regulations state arrivals must be double jabbed and take a PCR test before leaving and another on arrival in Australia.