Australian Open boss Craig Tiley believes a successful tournament can provide a beacon of hope for Tokyo Olympic organisers.
Tiley described the build-up to the tournament as a “massive logistical exercise” which hadn’t been undertaken on such a scale through the pandemic before.
He was referring to the 17 international charter flights into Melbourne and Adelaide and the modified quarantine measures adopted to allow players out of their hotel rooms to train for five hours a day.
While it hasn’t all been smooth sailing, with seven positive cases from three flights that forced 72 players into hard lockdown to the fury of some, Tiley said he hoped the Olympics could learn from the Open.
The Tokyo Games is due to start July 23 after already being postponed from 2020, but there are serious doubts over whether it can actually go ahead.
“I think there’s a lot to be learned from this experience for the Olympic Games,” Tiley said on Tuesday.
“Every single day we become better at it because we’ve learned from what happened yesterday, the mistakes you make.
“I hope we come out in 14 days and everyone is clear and if we can maintain that number of positive cases – we will likely have another five or 6,000 tests at least – so that will be a phenomenal result
“I hope it gives the Olympic Games confidence that it can be done.
“I think we can provide a lot of intelligence; if we pull this off I’ m a lot more confident that the Olympic Games will be able to happen too.”