‘It would be great’ – Andy Murray weighs in on vaccination debate ahead of Australian Open
Andy Murray expects unvaccinated players to be allowed to compete at the Australian Open though would support tougher restrictions against them.
Victoria sports minister, Martin Pakula, said on Tuesday that players should get vaccinated to give themselves the best possible opportunity to compete at Melbourne Park in 2022.
It is expected that vaccinated stars will be given more freedom to roam and may also be able to skip the country’s mandatory 14-day quarantine upon arrival.
“My understanding is if you’re unvaccinated you’re still allowed to play, it’s just the rules are going to be different,” Murray said after his third-round Indian Wells defeat by Alexander Zverev.
“You might just have to leave (for Australia) a few weeks earlier than everyone else. That’s the player’s choice. If the local government puts that in place then I would support that.
“It would be great if more players got vaccinated. Australia in particular has been very, very strict over there. The public there have had to endure a painful 18 months or whatever.
“If people are going to come into the country and potentially risk an outbreak in their community, yeah, that’s understandable.”
World number four Zverev, who in April said he had not yet been vaccinated, did not want to be caught up in the discussion.
“I fully respect the decisions of players that are not vaccinated. I also do respect the decision that the Australian government is giving,” he said.
“I don’t want to be in the middle of something which I kind of am not involved in because I don’t have that issue of the two-week quarantine. I don’t want to go against anybody here.”
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