The first Grand Slam tournament of the 2021 tennis season will take place in mid-February, with the Australian Open scheduled for Feb. 8-21 in Melbourne—weeks later than the tournament's traditional end-of-January date.  

Qualifying matches for the tournament will be held in Doha from Jan. 10-13, with the weeks between qualifying and the tournament set aside for travel and COVID-19 quarantining.

Last year's Australian Open, which was held from Jan. 20-Feb. 2, was the only one of the four major tennis tournaments to proceed as normal. The French Open was postponed to the end of September rather than its original May-June date, while Wimbledon was canceled altogether. The U.S. Open was still held in August and September, though it was conducted without fans in the stands.

The Rio Open is in the process of being rescheduled, since it was set to start Feb. 17 but now would run in the middle of the Australian Open. 

In November, Victorian Sports and Tourism Minister Martin Pakula told reporters that he expected the tournament to be delayed and that players would be subject to "an extremely rigorous testing regime" before and after arriving in Melbourne. 

According to the Victoria state government, there are seven active cases of COVID-19 in the state, all of which were diagnosed among international arrivals, who are subject to a 14-day quarantine upon arrival tested regularly throughout. There has been no community transmission in the state, which has a population of 6.4 million people, for 47 days.

In addition to the Australian Open, a 12-team ATP Cup and the Adelaide International will be played in Melbourne, as will a separate ATP 250 tournament. 

Auckland's ASB Classic and the New York Open will not be played in 2021 as a result of the pandemic.

The 2021 season will begin Jan. 5 with the Delray Beach Open.