Andrey Rublev has COVID-19, but hopes to still play at the Australian Open ©Getty Images

The name of world number five Andrey Rublev has been added to the growing list of tennis players who have tested positive for COVID-19 after competing at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi.

Rublev won the men's singles title at the Emirati event, defeating two-time Olympic champion Sir Andy Murray of Britain in the final.

However, the Russian now has COVID-19.

Rublev claimed to have "minimal symptoms" in a statement where he confirmed he was in Barcelona and had tested positive for the virus.

Canadian Denis Shapovalov yesterday confirmed he had tested positive after arriving in Australia for a series of tournaments headlined by the first Grand Slam of 2022, the Australian Open.

Spanish great Rafael Nadal, who Shapovalov beat in the third-place playoff in Abu Dhabi, has the virus, while women's singles finalists Belinda Bencic and Ons Jabeur both tested positive as well.

Tunisia's Jabeur beat Swiss Bencic - the Olympic champion - in the women's singles final.

Emma Radacanu, the British teenager who won the US Open in a major shock, was supposed to play in Abu Dhabi but was withdrawn after testing positive for the virus shortly beforehand.

The Australian Open begins in three weeks, on January 17, so all the players with COVID-19 should be able to play if there are no complications in their recoveries.

Rublev reached the quarter-finals in 2021, tied for the 24-year-old's best result at a Grand Slam.