A broadcaster has apologized after Novak Djokovic declined to do a customary post-match on court interview at the Australian Open to protest comments made on air by someone who works for the host TV network.

Top-ranked Iga Swiatek will face 2020 champion Sofia Kenin in the first round and potentially 2016 winner Angelique Kerber or Danielle Collins in the second in a tough start to her bid for a first Australian Open title.

The Australian Open tournament director says Novak Djokovic played with a tear in his left hamstring that was more than an inch long along the way to winning the championship.

Tournament director Craig Tiley has described as “ridiculous” and “bizarre” calls for the timing of the Australian Open to be changed to allow players a longer off-season.

Novak Djokovic has arrived in Australia almost a year after he was deported over his stance against COVID-19 vaccination.

A Melbourne-based immigration lawyer says Novak Djokovic will likely be successful if he applies for a visa to enter Australia for the season-opening tennis major next year despite his high-profile deportation in January.

Restrictions which resulted in the removal of a spectator for wearing a T-shirt supporting Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai at the Australian Open have been overhauled after international backlash.

The timing for Jessica Pegula’s run to the Australian Open quarterfinals has even accommodated another of her sporting passions.

Novak Djokovic is getting his day in court in a deportation case that has polarized opinions and elicited heartfelt support for the world No. 1 tennis player in his native Serbia.

Lawyers for Novak Djokovic have filed court documents in his challenge against deportation from Australia that showed the tennis star contracted COVID-19 in the middle of last month.

Novak Djokovic will get a chance to defend his Australian Open title after receiving a medical exemption to travel to Melbourne.

While the “will he or won’t he” question remains for No. 1 Novak Djokovic and his participation in the Australian Open the rest of the tennis world returns to work this week to prepare for the season’s first major.

(AP Photo/Hamish Blair)MELBOURNE – The Australian Open will be allowed to continue but without crowds after the Victoria state government imposed a snap, five-day lockdown starting Saturday in response to a COVID-19 outbreak at a quarantine hotel. Andrews said the Feb. 8-21 Australian Open could continue “because these people are at their workplace.”“It will be happening, but there’ll be no one there watching it," he said. The seven-time Australian Open winner didn't hear the news until after the match. “It was a good last match before the lockdown, it's really sad to say.”The Australian Open was the first Grand Slam tournament in a year to allow sizeable crowds. Under the initial plan for the Australian Open, the government allowed up to 30,000 people daily the first week at Melbourne Park, or about 50% of capacity.

United States' Serena Williams makes a forehand return to compatriot Danielle Collins during a tuneup event ahead of the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, Friday, Feb. 5, 2021. (AP Photo/Andy Brownbill)MELBOURNE – Serena Williams withdrew from an Australian Open tuneup tournament citing a right shoulder injury on Friday within hours of setting up a semifinal match against top-ranked Ash Barty. Garbine Muguruza beat defending Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin 6-2, 6-2 to advance to the semifinals, reversing their result of their 2020 final at Melbourne Park. AdOn either side of a delay on outside courts because of rain, former Wimbledon, U.S. Open and Australian champion Angelique Kerber beat No. 8 Ons Jabeur 6-4, 6-4 and Belinda Bencic, the highest-ranked player in the tournament, lost to Sorana Cirstea 7-5, 6-2.

Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley address the media in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, Feb. 4. Six tuneup tournaments were suspended for a day so that 507 people connected with the Australian Open could be tested for the virus. The one-day shutdown was triggered — the Victoria state premier, a leading health official and Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley all said — out of “an abundance of caution." Novak Djokovic won his eighth Australian Open title in late January 2020, and Sofia Kenin won her first major. Two months later, the Formula One season had a false start when the Australian Grand Prix was called off before an official practice session could be staged.

Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley defended Djokovic for appealing to Australian Open organizers to ease restrictions so players could move to private residences with tennis courts. (Morgan Sette/AAP Image via AP)MELBOURNE – Three more people linked to the Australian Open have tested positive for COVID-19 in Melbourne, increasing to 10 those associated with the Grand Slam tennis tournament which begins Feb. 8. Victoria state Emergency Services Minister Lisa Neville confirmed the new cases had been detected on Wednesday, adding that authorities are “very confident” one of the cases is a tennis player who is shedding the virus and is not infectious. The player is already in hard lockdown as they were on board a flight into Melbourne with another positive case. Australian Open director Craig Tiley said 3,200 tests have been conducted on the more than 1,200 players, support staff and tournament officials.

Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley defended Djokovic for appealing to Australian Open organizers to ease restrictions so players could move to private residences with tennis courts. (Morgan Sette/AAP Image via AP)Two players are among the three latest COVID-19 cases that have emerged from testing conducted on passengers who arrived on charter flights bringing people to Melbourne for the Australian Open. More than 1,200 players, coaches, staff, officials and media arrived on flights in a 36-hour period until Saturday morning to prepare for the Australian Open, which starts Feb. 8. Victoria state Premier Daniel Andrews said some of the cases linked to the tournament will be reclassified as “non-infectious shedding." The most heartening thing at the end in the chat there was a scroll of thank yous from all the stars and players," Tiley said, according to AAP.

Australian Open organizers have settled on a plan to host the 2021 tournament complete with bio-security and fewer spectators. Tennis Australia chief executive Craig Tiley will be looking at the running of both the U.S. Open and delayed French Open to help plan contingencies for the first Grand Slam tournament of 2021. But the 15% we get from overseas will likely not be here.The pandemic forced the cancellation of Wimbledon and the postponement of the French Open to Sept. 27 to Oct. 11. I know everyone wants to play the U.S. Open and French Open and they are adamant on wanting to do that. Tiley believes they were fortunate in Melbourne to have played the Australian Open before the worst of the coronavirus shutdown set in.

Andy Murray thanks the crowd after losing his first-round match against Roberto Bautista Agut during Day 1 of the 2019 Australian Open on Jan. 14, 2019, in Melbourne, Australia. 1 Andy Murray will make his grand slam singles return following career-saving hip surgery at the Australian Open in January, tournament director Craig Tiley told Australian radio station Triple M.Murray underwent a second procedure on his hip in January this year after admitting in a tearful news conference at the Australian Open that he had been playing in considerable pain for some time and was considering retirement. READ: Andy Murray says he's 'pain free' after hip surgeryREAD: The sporting great who became a champion feministMurray, a five-time Australian Open runner-up, will return with a protected ranking of No. The 32-year-old made his singles return in Cincinnati in August, losing in the first round to France's Richard Gasquet. He skipped the US Open in favor of the Rafa Nadal Open on the second-tier Challenger Tour where he won his first singles match since the surgery.