I’m devastated to be missing Aussie Open, says Murray
now be forced to sit out the Australian Open despite feeling fit and well. Murray said: “Gutted to share that I won’t be flying out to Australia to compete at the Australian Open.
“We’ve been in constant dialogue with Tennis Australia to try and find a solution, which would allow some form of workable quarantine, but we couldn’t make it work. I want to thank everyone there for their efforts – I’m devastated not to be playing out in Australia. It’s a country and tournament that I love.”
All players, coaches and support staff have to serve a two-week quarantine on arrival in Australia.
And 72 competitors have been forced into a hard lockdown – where they cannot even leave their room – after arriving on flights on which fellow passengers had tested positive.
Murray risked the same fate if any passenger on his commercial flight had failed a Covid-19 test. Efforts by Novak Djokovic to ease the protocols have been panned in Australia amid political pressure not to give special treatment to superstar tennis players.
Murray feared he had played his last match at the Australian Open in 2019 before a successful second hip surgery. Tournament organisers played an on-court video tribute to his career after his defeat to Roberto Bautista Agut. The three-time Grand Slam champion then pulled out of Melbourne last year with a nagging pelvic injury.
Murray played only seven matches in his shortened 2020 season – and won only one Grand Slam singles match in the first round at the US Open.