Australian Open chief executive Craig Tiley is reassuring players that the delayed season-opening Grand Slam tournament will get underway on February 8 and has asked for patience with the logistics and quarantine planning amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The world’s leading tennis players are set to start arriving in Melbourne from January 15 and must undergo 14 days in hotel quarantine, although they’ll be allowed to practice for limited periods daily in a bio-secure bubble.

Reports from Europe about players being unclear on charter flight details prompted a series of Twitter posts from Tiley to provide an update. Australian Open organizers are chartering up to 20 flights from Dubai, Singapore and Los Angeles to bring players to Melbourne.

“There are a lot of pieces to this logistical puzzle... We appreciate your patience and are conscious that time timelines are very tight,” Tiley posted on Twitter.

The professional circuit resumes this week, with main-draw action at the Abu Dhabi WTA Women’s Tennis Open and the ATP’s Delray Beach Open. “We are not going to put an event on that is going to be unsafe for the community,” Tiley said. The players will be tested before travelling to Australia and every day during quarantine.