MELBOURNE – The sixth day of the Australian Open is usually one of the best attended of the Grand Slam fortnight but there was an eerie quiet around the Melbourne Park precinct as play got underway on Saturday.
A snap five-day lockdown to try to contain an outbreak of COVID-19 came into effect just before midnight on Friday, restricting Victoria’s six million residents to their homes and shutting fans out of the tennis.
Shops, bars and restaurants on the site usually teeming with fans were shuttered and the only noise was the mask-muffled chatter of those workers deemed essential — police, security guards, match officials and media.
Tennis play…
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