Jamie Murray: Playing professional tennis with fans in packed stadiums is far away

Seven time Grand Slam doubles champion Jamie Murray says a return to the regular tennis circuit with fans inside stadiums is far away.

Speaking to the PA agency, “I honestly have no idea what is going to happen with that.

“As a professional tournament, you have players, coaches, physios travelling from all over the world to be there.

“You have got fans flying from all over the world to watch these events, it is a lot of people descending on a city for a week and then moving on to another city. That comes with a lot of difficulties in the current climate.

“It is difficult because at a regular ATP event you have got a 32 draw singles a 16 draw doubles, that is probably 50-60 players plus their support staff on site for the tournament, that is still a lot of people in a small space.

“There is a lot of liability for tournament organisers. There are issues with that, if someone comes to your event and they contract the virus that is not going to work out too well I don’t think.

“It is going to be difficult, even behind closed doors, it is not what players want, it is not fun to compete like that.

“We will just have to see what happens with that. With or without fans I still think it is very difficult to get all the protocols and set-ups in place in order to host a big event.

“With regards playing on the professional tennis with fans in packed out stadiums I really think that is far away.”

The former World No. 1 doubles player says he is trying to maintain his fitness and skills during the current lockdown.

“For me the most important thing is to get back out and practise to maintain our skills.

"From that point, tennis is one of the first sports that elite athletes can get back into because there is natural distance between the players.

“I am hoping that tennis gets the green light to get back on to court soon.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3dqqAfK