Next year’s Australian Open has been thrown into more turmoil after it was revealed Tennis Australia’s biosecurity manager Tom McDowell has resigned.The state of Victoria has some of the strictest Coronavirus measures in the world and McDowell had faced the unenviable task of managing protocols for players and staff on arrival in Australia.As reported by freelance tennis writer Ben Rothenberg, the exact details of the job are listed on McDowell’s LinkedIn page.His responsibilities included: “Overseeing the development of biosecurity protocols for each functional area and providing advice, guidance and instruction to all areas of the business relation to Biosecurity Operational implementation.The job also required McDowell to “lead the development of COVIDSafe procedures for each functional area, guiding and supporting managers to develop and implement processes which align with the goals of the COVIDSafe plan.” Plus, “Define the scope and requirements for COVID testing and/or vaccination programs to minimise the risk of an outbreak impacting the event.”ENTER GIVEAWAYENTER GIVEAWAYWith the first Grand Slam of the new year scheduled to start in a matter of weeks, McDowell’s resignation may well create huge problems for Tennis Australia.The rules surrounding travel to Melbourne are already complicated, with Australian Open officials confirming some players and staff will be granted medical exemptions from vaccination to travel to the country for the new season.Government officials in Victoria had previously said only fully vaccinated players would be able to compete at Melbourne Park but this meant the likes of Novak Djokovic were set to miss out.The world number one has frequently declined to reveal his vaccination status but his father confirmed his son was unlikely to play if the vaccination rules were not relaxed.It’s unclear at this stage why McDowell resigned but some tennis fans have speculated that disagreements over allowing unvaccinated players to compete may have contributed to the biosecurity manager leaving his post.

One Twitter user wrote: “What an impossible job. I can see why this guy would quit! I'm guessing others would not cooperate [and] there were internal squabbles re: biosecurity measures, & he didn't feel he could succeed in implementing the necessary biosecurity protocols. Not a good sign for AO [Australian Open.]”

Another suggested similar reasoning for why McDowell might have resigned: “Reckon he's caught between making rules to suit the government and having the AO [Australian Open] and tennis community looking for loopholes that if [they] go awry, he would carry the can… nope I don't want that job either.”

The Australian Open’s decision to make exemptions for unvaccinated players comes at a time when the new Omicron Covid variant is starting to spread rapidly.

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Six players tested positive recently at an event in Abu Dhabi, including Rafael Nadal, Ons Jabeur, Belinda Bencic, Andrey Rublev, Dennis Shapavalov and US Open champion Emma Raducanu.

But as of now, the Grand Slam is still set to go ahead as planned.

Tennis Australia have denied allegations they are ‘seeking loopholes’ so unvaccinated players can participate and said in a statement they “are not in a position to influence this process and nor would we.”