Hospital da Luz will ensure medical assistance to athletes and organization staff, in the sixth edition of Millennium Estoril Open , which will take place between April 24 and May 2, 2021, also coordinating the process of COVID-19 tests and guaranteeing total compliance with the infection general prevention rules, including the specific protocols adopted by ATP in its tournaments. As official medical service, accompanying this tournament since its first edition, Hospital da Luz will have permanently in Estoril Tennis Club, where the event will take place: A medical centre to assist athletes – coordinated by Rodrigo Moreira, orthopaedist specialized in sports traumatology, and including two physiotherapists and two massage therapists; A medical centre to assist elements of the teams and organization, with a nurse permanently present. On the whole, about 20 health professionals will be involved, among physicians, nurses, physiotherapists and massage therapists. These medical centres will be equipped with all the necessary medical devices for assistance. Furthermore, the event counts with the back-end support of the medical teams from different specialities and means of diagnosis of Hospital da Luz. For the prevention of COVID-19 , Hospital da Luz will have permanently present a Tournament Infection Control Officer – Carlos Palos , internist and coordinator of Luz Saúde infection control group –, who will be the responsible for controlling the periodic application of tests to the nearly 200 participants in the tournament (150 elements of the organization, besides athletes and respective teams) and implementing the strict protocols that prevail in the ATP circuit. The players will move around in “bubble mode”, with separate circulation circuits, and the technical areas will be restricted to the staff supporting the event. The major Portuguese tennis event will be held, this time, without public attendance (although the decision is still pending on a request submitted by the organization to the General Directorate for Health, DGS, to have an audience of at least 500 people), after not being able to hold the tournament in 2020 due to the pandemic, that entailed a 6-month interruption in the professional tennis circuit. But all matches and backstage scenes in this Millennium Estoril Open will be shown on TVI channel. The Argentinean Diego Schwartzman (currently 9 in the ATP ranking), the French Gael Monfils (14), the Spanish Pablo Carreño Busta (15), the Italian Fabio Fognini (17), the Chilean Cristian Garín (20) and João Sousa (the best Portuguese tennis player of all times, winner of the 2018 tournament, who will participate with a wild card) are the top names of this year’s tournament, with an overall participation of 28 players.
