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Nadal caught the novel coronavirus while playing in an
exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi last week and said he would
make a decision on his future tournaments depending on his
"evolution" over the weeks ahead.
"I'm confident Rafa will be here," tournament organiser Tiley
said of the 20-times Grand Slam champion at Melbourne Park on
Wednesday.
"Players that are testing positive now will complete a period of
time until they are no longer infectious and they will be fine.
If you are going to test positive and you want to play the
Australian Open, your timing would be now."
Tiley reiterated that all players and staff at the Australian
Open would be vaccinated or have a medical exemption granted by
an independent panel of experts.
Those requirements have prevented Djokovic, who has declined to
disclose whether he is vaccinated, citing privacy, from
confirming whether he will bid for a 21st Grand Slam title and a
10th Australian Open crown next month.
Tiley said that as far as he was aware, no players had yet been
granted medical exemptions and that it would be up to Djokovic
to disclose the grounds on which he gained entry to Australia.
"If Novak shows up at the Australian Open, he'll either be
vaccinated or he'll have a medical exemption," he added.
"Medically, he doesn't talk to anyone about it. I'm not going to
ask Novak that, it's none of my business.
"I will know that (he fulfils) one of those conditions."
Tiley said that if the world number one was going to play for
Serbia in the ATP Cup in Sydney in the first week of January
then he would be arriving with the first tranche of players next
week.
"We want to have the best players here, I'd love to have Novak
here," he added. "If he meets those conditions then great, if
not, it's disappointing."
Roger Federer, the other men's player with 20 Grand Slam titles,
and Serena Williams, who has won 23 Grand Slam titles, have
already ruled themselves out of the tournament as they continue
their recoveries from injury.
Tiley also announced that former U.S. Open champion Sam Stosur
and her fellow Australians Daria Saville and Maddy Inglis had
been granted wildcards for the women's singles draw at the Jan.
17-30 tournament.
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney in Sydney, Editing by Peter
Rutherford)
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