The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Murray highlights threat to players
Jamie Murray says tennis players are currently “walking on eggshells” with regards to making plans to compete on the ATP Tour.
Murray is back in London after a four-week stint in Australia, the first two of which were in quarantine where he was only allowed out of his hotel for five hours a day ahead of the Australian Open.
The doubles specialist, who got to the semi-finals with partner Bruno Soares, next intends to travel to tournaments in Mexico and Miami next month, but admits he is uncertain what is in store for him when he gets there.
“My plan is to go to Mexico and then Miami to play and then after that it is the clay-court season,” he said.
“At the moment all these tournaments are planning to go ahead, that may change.
“But we are walking on eggshells because we never quite know what is going to happen, you have to be ready to adapt and stuff.
“I assume we are going to be living in bubble life for the next three or four months, but that’s just the way it has got to be.
“The Tour has done a great job to run tournaments and multiple tournaments and give players the opportunity to do their job.
“The stress is that we are away from home and if we test positive we have got to quarantine in a hotel in a foreign country.
“If I play Mexico and I play a week there and have to get a test in order to go to the next tournament and if that is positive I have to quarantine by myself in a hotel for 14 days. So that is the stress of it and that is every week, so it has been tough.
“If there are quarantines in place it is almost impossible for tours to run.
“Australia was only able to do it because it was the first event of the year.
“If there are more quarantines in place the Tour basically can’t function.”
Murray has announced he will host the third instalment of the Battle of the Brits tournament in Aberdeen in December.
The exhibition event was conceived during lockdown as a way for British players to get some action and it was a roaring success, with a follow-up edition last Christmas.
It will next be staged at the Granite City’s 7,000seat P&J Live on December 21 and 22, in front of fans, where Murray will team up with his brother Andy to stage a Scotland v England competition.
“We are really excited by the event, it is going to be a lot of fun and hopefully very noisy,” he added.
“Hopefully with the news that has come out in the last few weeks things are looking up.
“We are really looking forward to getting back and competing in Scotland, great experiences in the past representing in the Davis Cup.
“For me I know the players, I know how competitive they are and if you put them all together they all want to beat each other and I knew they would go hell for leather to try and win and that really shone through and that is why people enjoyed watching it, it was real.
“Either of those events in normal times would sell tickets and be a lot of fun to be involved in.
“It’ll be a lot of fun, a great atmosphere – we want people coming in their kilts, Scotland shirts, facepaint and all that stuff.
“We want them to have a good time, a good night out.
“We’re hoping we’ll have some live entertainment on top of the tennis as well that we’re trying to put together.
Tickets for the event, which is expected to benefit local charities, went on general sale yesterday.
Britain
Scotland will begin rugby’s 2023 World Cup against defending champions South Africa in Marseille in September.
The Pool B match will be played at the Stade Velodrome on Sunday, September 10, a day after England take on Argentina at the same venue.
Scotland’s next match is two weeks later on Sunday September 24 in Nice against the Asia/Pacific 1 qualifier, before they go on to face the Europe 2 qualified team in Lille on Saturday September 30.
Scotland complete their pool fixtures in Paris, where they will face Ireland at the Stade de France on Saturday, October 7, the teams having met only once before in the tournament, in 2019 in Japan.
Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend said: “It’s great to have the fixtures announced, meaning that the tournament is edging closer.
“It doesn’t get any more exciting than facing the world champions in your opening game, but it is an opportunity I know our players will be keen to embrace.
“I’ve no doubt our fans, and players, will also relish the chance to be part of matches in some impressive stadiums across France,” he added.
“We of course played Ireland at the last Rugby World Cup and the two sides know each other pretty well from our Guinness Six Nations encounters.”
Host nation France will face three-time winners New Zealand in a tantalising opening match of the tournament at the Stade de France in Paris on September 8.
After their Pool D opener against Los Pumas, Eddie Jones’ 2019 runners-up England will take on Japan in Nice on September 17 before back-to-back games in Lille against qualifiers from the Americas and Oceania on September 23 and October 7 respectively.
Wales, meanwhile, begin their Pool C campaign against Fiji in Bordeaux on September 10 and take on two-time champions Australia in Lyon a fortnight later.
Ireland’s quest to progress beyond the quarter-finals for the first time also starts in Bordeaux, where they will play a European qualifier on September 9.
Andy Farrell’s men face the Springboks in Paris on September 23 and return to the Stade de France to complete their pool games against Scotland.
Games will be played at nine venues across France.
The Stade de France will host the final – scheduled for Saturday, October 28 – the third-placed play-off, both semi-finals and two of the quarter-finals.
Marseille will host the other two last-eight fixtures.
Scotland are idle this weekend as the Guinness Six Nations continues after their game with France in Paris was called off due to a coronavirus outbreak in the hosts’ squad.
Wales, who beat Scotland in a Murrayfield thriller two weeks ago, play host to England, while Ireland will look for their first win of the competition so far when they travel to Italy.
England suffered another significant setback when Courtney Lawes was ruled out of the remainder of the tournament by a chest injury.
Lawes suffered damage to his pectoral muscle in training on Wednesday and will miss the Cardiff showdown and the final two matches against France and Ireland.
“Unfortunately, Courtney picked up a knock and that means he won’t be available for us for the rest of the Six Nations,” attack coach Simon Amor said.
Lawes was due to continue at blindside flanker but his mishap on the training field means Mark Wilson starts in the six jersey.
Tiger Woods has been moved to a new hospital in Los Angeles in the next stage of his recovery from multiple injuries sustained in a serious car accident.
Open fractures to the 45-year-old’s tibia and fibula and further injuries to his foot and ankle were stabilised during surgery with the insertion of a rod, screws and pins.
The severity of the injuries, coupled with the fact that he was already sidelined following a fifth back operation, leaves the prospects of the 15-time major winner being able to return to action hanging in the balance.
“Woods was transferred to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for continuing orthopaedic care and recovery,” Harbor-UCLA Medical Center interim CEO Anish Mahajan said on the hospital’s Twitter account.
“It was provide an honour to orthopaedic trauma care to generation’s athletes.”
Woods survived “what would otherwise have been a fatal crash” on Tuesday morning because the interior of his vehicle remained largely intact, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva.
He added that “deputies at the time did not see any evidence of impairment” after arriving on the scene at 7.18am local time and confirmed on Wednesday that Woods was “not drunk” and that the crash was “purely an accident”.
Meanwhile the European Tour, LPGA Tour and Ladies European Tour will join forces for a mixed tournament at the ISPS HANDA World Invitational in Northern Ireland this summer.
The 288-strong event – 144 men and 144 women – sees the tournament elevated to European Tour status following its one of our greatest inaugural European in 2019.
The event will be played over two courses, Galgorm Castle and Massereene, from July 28-August 1 and form part of the European Tour’s 2021 UK Swing, taking in tournaments across the four home nations in July and August.
Keith Pelley, chief executive of the European Tour, said: “We are excited to once again work alongside ISPS HANDA and Modest! Golf Management, both of whom share our vision of driving golf further through innovation and inclusivity.
“Galgorm Castle was a hugely popular addition to our Race to Dubai schedule in 2020 and we are all looking forward to returning there in July.”
The women’s field will be split equally between the LPGA and the Ladies European Tour, while the 2.35 million dollars purse will be divided evenly as edition on the Challenge Tour the men women compete for two equal prize funds.
The men’s tournament will count towards the European Tour’s Race to Dubai and carry Team Europe Ryder Cup points.
The women’s tournament will count towards the Race to the CME Globe for women on the LPGA Tour, the Race to Costa del Sol on the Ladies European Tour (LET) and Solheim Cup points for both Team Europe and Team USA.
Competition will take place over a traditional 72hole stroke play format, with men and women competing at the two venues over the first two days before a halfway cut reduces the field to the top 60, including ties, in both draws.
The third round will take place at Galgorm Castle before a further 54-hole cut takes place with the top 35 and ties from the men’s and women’s draws advancing to the final round on Sunday.