Stefanos Tsitsipas, world no.3, has revealed that he has not taken the vaccine yet and added that unless the tour makes it mandatory, he will avoid vaccination.
The 23-year-old tennis player still has reservations regarding the vaccine, despite the men’s ATP tour encouraging players to vaccinate.
Tsitsipas, who has been playing in the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati, was asked a question about whether he will seek the vaccine, while he is playing in the United States. He said to the media that no one has told him anything and it has not been made mandatory yet.
He added that he is pretty sure that he has to, at some point, but taking the vaccine has not been made mandatory yet to compete in any tournament, so he hasn’t taken it yet.
Tsitsipas has received a first-round bye in this tournament. He had an excellent French Open, reaching the final stage before losing to Novak Djokovic. In Wimbledon, he had a shocking first-round exit. He has talked to reporters about how it is challenging to live in a COVID-19 bubble.
The various COVID-19 vaccines have received mixed responses from the tennis fraternity. There are people like World no. 1 Novak Djokovic who hoped that taking the vaccination does not become mandatory for players competing in various tournaments and refused to give any status regarding his vaccination.
There are stars like 20 time Grand Slam winner, Roger Federer who has already taken the vaccine and has encouraged everyone else to take it. Federer said in May that he took the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Rafael Nadal also has taken the vaccine and has said that the only way out of this “nightmare” is vaccination and it’s our duty as human beings to take it. He further added that the vaccines may have some side effects but the effects from the virus will be much worse.
