Australian Open build-up: Events, players, details for Melbourne Park events

Despite the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, the 2021 season is well under way, with events in Delray Beach, Abu Dhabi and Antalya all having taken place in the first week of January. The Australian Open qualifying events took place in Doha (men) and Dubai (women).

The strict protocols in place for the rest of the pre-Australian Open tournaments mean that Tennis Australia has moved all its “warm-up” events in the week before the Australian Open to Melbourne Park itself. But due to the need to put 72 players into hard quarantine after they were on Covid-19 affected flights into the country, there have been some changes to plans for the week before the Australian Open itself, which will run from Feb 8-21.

After complaints that the hard quarantine, where players cannot practice or even leave their hotel rooms for 14 days, will leave the 72 players disproportionately affected, all three ATP Tour events planned for that week will now be pushed back a day or two, to at least give those players some extra time, while the draws of the two ATP 250s have been increased to 56. There will be an additional WTA event, solely for those players in hard quarantine.

Here’s what’s now happening in that week (Jan 31-Feb 7):

Feb 2-6: ATP Cup

• Venue: Melbourne Park
• Format: Round-robin: 12 teams, four groups of three

Boom! The schedule is out for the @ATPCup – @DjokerNole , @RafaelNadal, @ThiemDomi all in action on day one pic.twitter.com/0KkMmNqcLI

— Tennis Majors (@Tennis_Majors) January 25, 2021

The complete field:

• Serbia: Novak Djokovic, Dusan Lajovic, Filip Krajinovic, Nikola Cacic
• Spain: Rafael Nadal, Roberto Bautista Agut, Marcel Granollers, Pablo Carreno Busta
• Austria: Dominic Thiem, Dennis Novak, Philipp Oswald, Tristan-Samuel Weissborn
• Russia: Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, Aslan Karatsev, Evgeny Donskoy
• Greece: Stefanos Tsitsipas, Michail Pervolarakis, Markos Kalovelonis, Petros Tsitsipas
• Germany: Alexander Zverev, Jan-Lennard Struff, Kevin Krawietz, Andreas Mies
• Argentina: Diego Schwartzman, Guido Pella, Horacio Zeballos, Maximo Gonzalez
• Italy: Matteo Berrettini, Fabio Fognini, Simone Bolelli, Andrea Vavassori
• Japan: Kei Nishikori, Yoshihito Nishioka , Ben McLachlan, Toshihide Matsui
• France: Gaël Monfils, Benoît Paire, Nicolas Mahut, Edouard Roger-Vasselin
• Canada: Denis Shapovalov, Milos Raonic, Peter Polansky, Steven Diez
• Australia: Alex de Minaur, John Millman, John Peers, Luke Saville

The draw for the round-robin:

• Group A: Serbia, Germany, Canada
• Group B: Spain, Greece, Australia
• Group C: Austria, Italy, France
• Group D: Russia, Argentina, Japan

 Feb 1-7: Murray River Open (ATP 250)

• Venue: Melbourne Park
• Format: Singles (56 players), Doubles (12 pairs)

The 16 seeds for the Murray River Open:

• Stan Wawrinka (18 / SWI)
• Grigor Dimitrov (19 / BUL)
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (21 / CAN)
• Borna Coric (24 / CRO)
• Casper Ruud (27 / NOR)
• Taylor Fritz (29 / USA)
• Ugo Humbert (31 / FRA)
• Daniel Evans (32 / GBR)
• Lorenzo Sonego (33 / ITA)
• Adrian Mannarino (34 / FRA)
• Marin Cillic (43 / CRO)
• Albert Ramos-Viñolas (45 / SPA)
• Nick Kyrigos (46 / AUS)
• Richard Gasquet (47 / FRA)
• Tommy Paul (52 / USA)
• Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (53 / SPA)

 Feb 1-7: Great Ocean Road Open (ATP 250)

• Venue: Melbourne Park
• Format: Singles (56 players), Doubles (12 pairs)

The 16 seeds for the Great Ocean Road Open:

• David Goffin (16 / BEL)
• Karen Khachanov (20 / RUS)
• Hubert Hurkacz (35 / POL)
• Jannik Sinner (36 / ITA)
• Reilly Opelka (39 / USA)
• Nikoloz Basilashvili (40 / GEO)
• Miomir Kecmanovic (42 / SRB)
• Alexander Bublik (49 / KAZ)
• Tennys Sandgren (50 / USA)
• Jordan Thompson (51 / AUS)
• Laslo Djere (55 / SRB)
• Sam Querrey (56 / USA)
• Aljaz Bedene (58 / SLO)
• Pablo Andujar (59 / SPA)
• Vasek Pospisil (61 / CAN)
• Feliciano Lopez (63 / SPA)

 Jan 31-Feb 6: Yarra Valley Classic (WTA 500)

• Venue: Melbourne Park
• Format: Singles (54 players each), Doubles (28 pairs each)

The 16 seeds for the Yarra Valley Classic:

• Ashleigh Barty (1 / AUS)
• Sofia Kenin (4 / USA)
• Karolina Pliskova (6 / CZE)
• Petra Kvitova (8 / CZE)
• Serena Williams (11 / USA)
• Garbiñe Mugurza (15 / SPA)
• Petra Martic (18 / CRO)
• Marketa Vondrousova (21 / CZE)
• Donna Vekic (32 / CRO)
• Shuai Zhang (35 / CHN)
• Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (38 / RUS)
• Fiona Ferro (42 / FRA)
• Danielle Collins (45 / USA)
• Yaroslava Shvedova (47 SR / UKR)
• Nadia Podoroska (47 / ARG)
• Kristina Mladenovic (50 / FRA)

 Jan 31-Feb 6: Gippsland Trophy (WTA 500)

• Venue: Melbourne Park
• Format: Singles (54 players each), Doubles (28 pairs each)

The 16 seeds for the Gippsland Trophy:

• Simona Halep (2 / ROM)
• Naomi Osaka (3 / JAP)
• Elina Svitolina (5 / UKR)
• Aryna Sabalenka (10 / BLR)
• Johanna Konta (14 / GBR)
• Iga Swiatek (17 / POL)
• Elise Mertens (20 / BEL)
• Karolina Muchova (27 / CZE)
• Ekaterina Alexandrova (33 / RUS)
• Qiang Wang (34 / CHN)
• Saisai Zheng (41 / CHN)
• Caroline Garcia (43 / FRA)
• Jelena Ostapenko (44 / LAT)
• Cori Gauff (48 / USA)
• Polona Hercog (49 / POL)
• Laura Siegemund (51 / GER)

 Feb 3-7: Grampians Trophy (WTA 500)

• Venue: Melbourne Park
• Format: Singles (28 players)
• Who: This event is only for those in the hard quarantine, who will have been unable to practice for 14 days.

The complete field for the Grampions Trophy:

• Bianca Andreescu (7 / CAN)
• Belinda Bencic (12 / SWI)
• Victoria Azarenka (13 / BLR)
• Elena Rybakina (19 / KAZ)
• Maria Sakkari (22 / GRE)
• Anett Kontaveit (23 / EST)
• Jennifer Brady (24 / USA)
• Angelique Kerber (25 / GER)
• Alison Riske (26 / USA)
• Yulia Putintseva (28 / KAZ)
• Ons Jabeur (31 / TUN)
• Svetlana Kuznetsova (36 / RUS)
• Barbora Strycova (37 / CZE)
• Sloane Stephens (39 / USA)
• Veronika Kudermetova (46 / RUS)
• Heather Watson (58 / GBR)
• Katerina Siniakova (59 / CZE)
• Anna Blinkova (61 / RUS)
• Barbora Krejcikova (65 / CZE)
• Paula Badosa (70 / SPA)
• Sorana Cirstea (71 / ROM)
• Lauren Davis (75 / USA)
• Christina McHale (81 / USA)
• Leylah Fernandez (88 / CAN)
• Ann Li (98 / USA)
• Marta Kostyuk (99 / UKR)