Victoria Premier refutes leaked email, insists players must be vaccinated for Australian Open

Despite a leaked email from the WTA stating that unvaccinated players will be allowed to compete at next year's Australian Open, Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews is sticking to his guns and stating players will need to be double vaccinated in order to participate in the first Grand Slam of the year.

The official statement given last week by Australia’s Immigration Minister Alex Hawke and Health Minister Greg Hunt was that players will only be granted visas if they have been vaccinated. However, a leaked email from the WTA on Monday revealed that unvaccinated players would be allowed to compete in Melbourne, provided they complete a two-week hotel quarantine before the event.

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Nonetheless, Andrews is refusing to change his stance, insisting that anyone entering Australia will need to have received both shots of the vaccine.

“Like, you’re just not getting a visa. Why would that be different here?" said Andrews. “I don’t think it’s too much to say, ‘If you want one of those visas and you want to come here, then you need to be double-vaxxed’.

“All the people who are watching the tennis at the Australian Open, they’re going to be double-vaxxed, all the people that work there are going to be double-vaxxed. It stands to reason that, if you want to get into the country to be part of that tournament, then you should be double-vaxxed as well.”