Greek tennis player Michail Pervolarakis tests positive for COVID-19 days after playing ATP Cup in Melbourne

Greek player Michail Pervolarakis has said he tested positive for the coronavirus after leaving Melbourne, where he played last week’s ATP Cup, a warm-up for the Australian Open. Pervolarakis, who played singles and doubles for Greece at the team event, said he tested positive on arrival in South Africa. “After a 24-plus hour travel day from Australia to South Africa I’ve been diagnosed positive to COVID-19,” he wrote on Instagram. “I am completely asymptomatic at the moment and will have to quarantine in an isolation facility in Potchefstroom.” Reports cited Tennis Australia as saying the 463rd-ranked Pervolarakis tested negative before leaving Australia on 9 February. The 24-year-old played ATP Cup doubles alongside Stefanos Tsitsipas, who is into the Australian Open’s last 16, and singles against Australia’s John Millman and Pablo Carreno-Busta of Spain. The Australian Open has endured significant disruption over Covid-19, and started three weeks late to allow international players to quarantine. On Saturday, fans were barred and players went into a biosecure “bubble” as Victoria state’s six million residents began a snap, five-day lockdown to curb an outbreak at an airport hotel.