Australian Open: New record number of ball children - no mask requirement
The Australian Open is taking on more and more concrete forms. As it became known on Wednesday, there will be a new record number of ball children - who surprisingly do not have to wear a mask.
by Michael Rothschädl
last edit:
Jan 28, 2021, 08:14 am
The fact that the fight against the spread of COVID-19 is extremely rigorous in Australia has been beyond question since the players' arrival Down Under. Since there is a very low level of new infections due to long and hard lockdowns, everything is done not to reintroduce the virus into the country by holding the first Grand Slam of the year.
But after the players have served their 14-day quarantine - which may be interrupted for some five hours a day for training and eating - there will be an event in Australia that is at least somewhat closer to "normality". The tiers will be much fuller than they were at individual events in autumn last year - and the ball kids will also do their part.
Children can do without masks
As it became known on Wednesday, there will not only be a record number of them - 380 children between the ages of 12 and 17 will stand by the players - they will also be able to do without the mask. They collect the balls "quite normally", as the journalist Michal Samulski explained on Twitter, only the use of hand disinfectant is recommended to the children.
A development that was accelerated by COVID-19 and is advocated by many in the tennis circus is now continuing: The players will be responsible for their towels themselves again down under, and towel boxes will probably be to be expected again. The Australian Open will start on February 8th, defending champion is Novak Djokovic, who defeated Dominic Thiem in the final last year.