Sport is not spared the exponential increase in cases linked to the new variant of covid-19, omicron. The postponed Premier League games, the depleted NBA teams and the endangered preparation for the Australian Tennis Open are consequences of the threat of a new total stoppage in competition.
In English, the traditional Boxing Day (round held the day after Christmas) did not have its usual festive look, with three matches postponed. Two 20th round duels, scheduled for this Tuesday and Thursday, have already been added to this list.
In total, the Premier League has been forced to postpone a dozen games in the last three rounds, while Great Britain faces a record number of infections.
Wales has decided that all sporting events must be played behind closed doors. In Scotland, the three-week winter break was brought forward: it started on Monday instead of January 3rd.
The other major European championships will restart in the next few days, and may also be affected by the omicron variant. In Germany, where the national football championship resumes on January 7, all sporting competitions will take place behind closed doors.
Waiting for Djokovic
Another potential victim is tennis. The Australian Open is set to start on January 17th and three top players (Rafael Nadal, Andrey Rublev and Denis Shapovalov) have announced that they have tested positive for the coronavirus, casting doubt on their presence in the year’s first Grand Slam.
“Now I have to recover and I won’t go to Melbourne until it’s safe for everyone,” wrote Rublev on Twitter.
Serbian Novak Djokovic, world number 1, who refuses to comment on whether or not he is vaccinated against covid-19, will announce before the end of the year if he will be at the Open. His advisors have already informed him that he will not be at the ATP Cup (January 1-9) in Sydney, the first competition of the year.
To be allowed to enter Australian territory, players and their technical teams must be vaccinated.
Alpine skiing is not being disputed either. The American Mikaela Shiffrin, who leads the Women’s World Cup, announced this Monday that she tested positive for covid-19, and therefore will not participate in the stage in Lienz (Austria) on Tuesday and Wednesday.
“I’m fine, but unfortunately I tested positive for covid-19. I follow protocol and am isolated,” wrote the sport’s 72-win World Cup star.
NBA and NHL in the eye of the hurricane
Covid-19 cases have multiplied in recent weeks on the women’s ski circuit, with Lara Gut-Behrami, from Switzerland, Alice Robinson, from New Zealand, or Katharina Liensberger, from Austria, contaminated.
In the United States, the basketball league (NBA) continues normally for the time being, but teams are being left out by cases of the disease, with 27 of the 30 teams affected by the coronavirus, according to data released on Sunday.
Among them, the Atlanta Hawks have 11 players out and the Celtics nine. The only consolation is that the NBA allows teams to sign short-term contracts with players in the lower divisions to cover casualties.
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The US and Canadian ice hockey championships had the round after the Christmas break, scheduled for this Monday, postponed to Tuesday so the NHL could review the results of the covid-19 tests.
The 14 games scheduled for Monday have been postponed, bringing the total number of games rescheduled in the NHL this season to 67 due to the pandemic.
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