Murray urges players to look out for others

Andy Murray says players have a responsibility to the wider public to get vaccinated and believes they will continue to face strict conditions at tournaments if they do not.

The US Open announced on Friday that only spectators who have been jabbed against Covid-19 will be allowed in, yet a number of top players – including Murray’s first-round opponent Stefanos Tsitsipas today – have not had the vaccine.

Murray, ranked no 101 in the world, believes that in future tournaments, players who have not been vaccinated will have to continue living in the tennis ‘bubbles’, while those who have had the jab will be allowed more freedom.

“Over the next few months things are going to probably end up changing quite a bit,” said the Scot.

“I know the conversations with regards to the Australian Open and stuff are already happening.

“The players that have been vaccinated are going to be having very different conditions to players who are not vaccinated. I can see it’s going to become an issue over the coming months.

“A lot of the tour is not vaccinated, but for the Aussie Open to go ahead, they’re going to be allowing the players that have had the vaccination to train and move freely between the hotel and stuff, potentially not having to quarantine, and things like that.

“There’s going to have to be a lot of pretty long, hard conversations with the tour and all of the players involved to try and come to a solution.

“Even here in New York, you’ve got the situation with gyms and stuff, you need to be vaccinated. Eating in restaurants and things, obviously you have to be vaccinated.

“I feel like I’m enjoying kind of a fairly normal life, whereas for the players that haven’t, it’s different. I’m sure they’ll be frustrated with that.

“Ultimately I guess the reason why all of us are getting vaccinated is to look out for the wider public.

“We have a responsibility as players that are travelling across the world to look out for everyone else as well.”