Tennis players

Seventy-two players to quarantine after another positive Covid test on Melbourne flight

Twenty-five players - thought to mostly be qualifiers - on board the flight from Doha to Melbourne must isolate in their room for 14 days.

Heather Watson is one of 47 players who were already quarantining and some are frustrated by the confinement.

Tournament organisers said the players were "already in quarantine hotels".

An Australian Open statement said: "One positive Covid-19 test has been returned from a passenger on a charter flight into Melbourne from Doha which arrived at 5.30am on 16 January.

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Two dozen players who arrived from Los Angeles entered strict hotel quarantine after an aircrew member and Australian Open participant who is not a player tested positive for the new coronavirus.

Later, another non-player passenger on a flight from Abu Dhabi tested positive, prompting the organisers to usher 23 players into hotel quarantine.

All three who tested positive had been transferred to a health hotel, the organisers said in a statement.

The players would not be able to leave their hotel rooms for 14 days and until they are medically cleared, they said.