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By Giri Nathan
[vc_empty_space height="15px"]Australia’s pandemic response has been an admirable success, thanks to extensive contact tracing, widespread compliance with guidelines, and natural advantages—low population density, that whole island thing where you’re surrounded by water on all sides. As of mid-December, Melbourne had gone four weeks without a new COVID-19 case. Hosting its usual Grand Slam could only endanger its slow move toward normalcy. Just last week, the Australian federal government nearly halved the number of Australian citizens allowed back into the country each week, as a precaution against more infectious strains of the disease. Caps on hotel quarantine have left tens of thousands of Australians stuck abroad. Meanwhile, Tennis Australia prepared to charter 15 flights containing 1,200 players and officials into the country so that the tennis could happen. Execution aside, the optics were already tricky.