MELBOURNE • Australian Open chief Craig Tiley insisted yesterday that the year's first Grand Slam would begin as scheduled on Feb 8, while admitting it was "not a great situation" for the growing number of players who have been confined to their hotel rooms.

The tournament was thrown into disarray on Saturday when three people tested positive for Covid-19 on two of the 17 charter flights bringing players and their entourages to Melbourne and Adelaide. A fourth person on one of the same flights, from Los Angeles, tested positive yesterday.

None was a player, although one was Sylvain Bruneau, coach of Canada's 2019 US Open winner Bianca Andreescu.

The number of players in 14-day mandatory quarantine went from 47 to 72 yesterday after another passenger tested positive on a third flight from Doha.

With those in quarantine ordered not to leave their rooms, it means 72 players - including the likes of Victoria Azarenka, Sloane Stephens, Kei Nishikori and Angelique Kerber - will not be allowed out to train for five hours a day as previously agreed in the build-up to the tournament, which has been delayed by three weeks.

"We always knew there would be significant risk with this pandemic, you can never tell," Tiley told Channel Nine television.

"But the Australian Open is going ahead and we will continue to do the best we possibly can to ensure those players have what is not a great situation, but one that is somewhat acceptable."

Several players, including Sorana Cirstea and Belinda Bencic, complained about not being able to train, with some claiming that they were not told about a hard lockdown if one person tested positive.

"If they would have told us this rule before I would not play Australia," tweeted Romania's Cirstea, and Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva agreed, saying "I would think twice before coming here."

Tiley insisted they were made aware of the risks.

Some players have already breached the strict lockdown rules by opening their doors. Victoria state Covid-19 quarantine commissioner Emma Cassar warned that they faced fines of up to A$20,000 (S$20,506).

She cited one player "who opened his door to try and have a conversation with his training mate down the hallway", while another bought takeaway food for friends on the same floor "and opened his door to do so".

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS