The organizers of the 2021 Australian Open tennis tournament have just announced the remarkable milestones of the Grand Slam early next year, showing a significant influence from COVID-19.
Because COVID-19, the 2021 Australian Open Organizers have just officially delayed the opening date to February 8. Not only that, the men’s qualifiers will take place in Doha. This is to avoid a large number of athletes coming to Australia. Australia will, however, host a series of warm-up tournaments, including the ATP Cup.
Thus, the 2021 Australian Open starts 3 weeks late than usual. In return, the fans are more likely to be on the field. Only the players who have the right to the main round need to go through 14 days of isolation.
Djokovic is the men’s singles defending champion
According to the 2021 Australian Open organizer, the main round takes place from February 8-21. Instead, the players came to Australia on January 15 to undergo 2 weeks of isolation. The players will be staying at the designated hotel, but are arranged to practice 5 hours per day.
This Grand Slam qualifier takes place in Doha from January 10-13. After that, the players with a limited support team will fly to Australia. The warm-up tournaments have the ATP Cup bringing together 12 teams to be held at Adelaide International, an ATP 250 in Melbourne.
There has been no announcement where the female tennis qualifiers will be played as WTA has not yet determined the 2021 tennis match schedule. But before the Grand Slam at the beginning of the year, WTA will hold a warm-up in Melbourne.
How much is the 2021 Australian Open bonus?
According to the latest information, the first Grand Slam tennis in 2021 is the Australian Open kicked off on February 8, instead of January 18 as usual.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic that changes the match schedule, the organizers promise the male singles champion Novak Djokovic and the women’s singles Sofia Kenin will pocket the same amount in 2020 if they can defend the title.
Thus, the total prize money of the Australian Open 2021 is still 50 million dollars (71 million Australian dollars). Singles champions (both men and women) will get $ 2,853,100, while the runner-up receives $ 1,430,012.