Australian Open players have been given the green light to begin exiting COVID-19 quarantine after spending two weeks confined to a biosecurity hub.
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The first group among the 960 players, coaches and officials isolating at three Melbourne hotels were allowed to leave from 6pm AEDT on Thursday, with the rest expected to depart by Sunday, Victoria state health officials said.
Players isolating in South Australia, including Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams, were to be released before their exhibition tournament - which includes Ash Barty - in Adelaide on Friday.
Players will be free to move around the cities and surrounding regions so long as they abide by local social distancing restrictions.
Quarantine Victoria said it had not recorded any new COVID-19 infections among the Australian Open contingent on Thursday, although there remained five active cases - who will need to spend longer in quarantine depending on when they tested positive.
Spain's Paula Badosa was the first player to reveal she had contracted the virus when she tested positive on her seventh day in quarantine.
She was moved to a "health hotel" last Thursday to begin two more weeks of isolation.
Some players expressed confusion over their scheduled departure.
American Tennys Sandgren, who was among the 72 players put in strict lockdown after passengers on their flights to Australia tested positive, was unhappy he would not be able to check out of isolation until Friday.
"I just found out we're not going to be able to leave the room until midnight tomorrow which will put us out close to 15 days in this room," he said in a video posted on Instagram on Thursday.
"That's also another day we can't practice."
Sandgren tested positive for COVID-19 two weeks ago before his flight from Los Angeles but said he was allowed to board after intervention from Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley.
Georgian Oksana Kalashnikova, the women's world number 63, was also unhappy with her scheduled departure.
She posted a meme on Twitter saying, "Why??" and wrote: "When Australian Government orders u to stay another extra day just because."
The Australian Open is due to begin on February 8.
Australian Associated Press
