Murray: Novak row is bad for tennis

ANDY MURRAY believes the furore over Novak Djokovic’s Australian Open medical exemption has ‘shocked everyone’ and is ‘really not good for tennis’. The two-time Wimbledon champion also expressed concern for Djokovic’s wellbeing after the Serb was placed in quarantine in an Australian hotel. ‘Everyone is shocked,’ said Murray. ‘The first thing is I hope Novak is OK and the second thing is it’s really not good for tennis. I don’t think it’s good for anyone involved. I think it’s really bad.’

Despite being an advocate of people getting vaccinated against Covid, Murray has sympathy for Djokovic, who is fighting a decision to revoke his medical exemption. The Federal Court hearing into Djokovic’s case was due to begin last night after Australian government lawyers failed to win a postponement until Wednesday. On Saturday, Djokovic’s legal team laid out their case in a 35-page document and government lawyers returned serve yesterday by publishing their arguments over 13 pages. Djokovic claims he was entitled to an exemption after testing positive for Covid last month while the government insist that only applies to someone who has been critically ill.