Sport by sport: Battle with anti-vaxxers

TENNIS

THERE is a real split. The ATP

Tour said ‘just above 50 per cent’ of players have been vaccinated.

The situation has not been helped by huge stars such as Novak Djokovic and Stefanos Tsitsipas questioning vaccines.

World No 3 Tsitsipas (right) said: ‘For me the vaccine has not been tested enough, it is new, it has some side-effects. For young people, I think it’s good to pass the virus because we will build immunity.’

Andy Murray believes players have ‘a responsibility’ to get jabbed while two-time Grand

Slam winner Victoria Azarenka said it’s ‘bizarre that fans have to be vaccinated and players are not’.

GOLF

THE PGA Tour told The Mail on Sunday that more than 85 per cent of players and caddies are fully vaccinated while the European Tour said a ‘significant majority’ had been.

One player who hasn’t been jabbed is Bryson DeChambeau despite missing the Olympics after contracting coronavirus.

‘The vaccine doesn’t necessarily prevent it from happening. I don’t need it.

I’m healthy,’ said the former US Open champion.

The PGA Tour of America are understood to have written to potential Ryder Cup selections asking if they would get vaccinated.

CRICKET

ABOUT 96 per cent of England’s international players during the pandemic have been double jabbed. The ECB want everyone vaccinated by the end of the summer so that anyone selected for cricket over the winter is fully protected when travelling.

England captain Joe Root recently backed calls for more volunteers at vaccination centres: ‘The NHS have been amazing throughout these unprecedented times,’said Root. ‘Please show your support by volunteering with the vaccine rollout this summer.

‘Let’s make sure we’re doing everything we can to look out for each other and the generations to come.’

RUGBY

PREMIERSHIP RUGBY would not give exact vaccination figures but said they ‘encourage all players and management to be double vaccinated as soon as possible’.

The British & Irish Lions were vaccinated before their tour of South Africa, though it will not be mandatory for players to be jabbed in this season’s Premiership.

England centre Henry Slade was criticised in May after saying he wouldn’t have the jab because he ‘didn’t agree with it at all’.

‘I don’t think you can trust it, can you,’ he said. He later claimed he wasn’t offering advice to the public but going on his past experiences of living with diabetes.