The Australian Tennis Open has been given the green light by the Victorian Government, but players must quarantine for two weeks, if they want to compete.
The first Grand Slam of the year had been in serious doubt, but Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has said the iconic event "will go ahead".
"We'll have an Australian Open tennis tournament, we’ll have a Boxing Day test, but they'll look different," Andrews has told Sunrise Australia.
Andrews says Tennis Australia is working closely with Victorian health officials to reach a compromise, but at this stage, nothing has been agreed.
Tournament officials are believed to be pushing for players to set up their own 'bubbles', to allow them to train ahead of the event.
But nothing has been confirmed, so international stars may still be reluctant to travel without guarantees they can train while in isolation.
Last week, it was reported that players would not be permitted into the state until January. Two planned warm-up tournaments remain in serious doubt.
Victoria has recently come out of a near three-month lockdown and Andrews isn't willing to comprise the sacrifices made to keep the state COVID-19 free.
"The rest of the world is on fire, so there will be quarantine for anyone coming to our city or state," Andrews says.
"You've got 250,000 cases a day in the United States, Europe is not much better, many parts of Asia are really struggling.
"As important as a tennis tournament is, we’re not going to jeopardise our coronavirus status by anything other than the highest standards."
The official date for the event has yet to be confirmed, but the Premier says it would be as close to the original January 18-31 date as possible.
Tennis Australia hopes to allow reduced crowds for the event, but must maintain social distancing to keep everyone safe.
