Australia\u2019s Nick Kyrgios said on Thursday that he is unlikely to play at the French Open due to concerns about COVID-19.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, Australian tennis player Kyrgios announced that he would not be contesting this year\u2019s US Open. Owing to the pandemic situation, he did not believe it was safe to do so and promised to only return to the tour when it was safe from a health and safety perspective.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a very slim chance I\u2019ll play in Europe. Almost slim to none, to be honest,\u201d the 25-year-old told Channel Nine.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to use this (time) to stay home, train, be with my family, be with my friends and I\u2019m just going to act responsibly, and wait till I think there\u2019s better circumstances to play.\u201d<\/p>\n
Previously, Kyrgios has been very open while voicing his dislike for the Clay surface. Usually scheduled for the May-June time of the year, this year\u2019s French Open has been postponed due to the pandemic situation being severe in France at that time. Rafael Nadal\u2019s favourite tournament where he has won the title 10 times, will now be played after the US Open, away from its usual schedule in September this year.<\/p>\n
Last year, he said the French Open \u201csucks\u201d before pulling out of the tournament, citing sickness.<\/p>\n
The Aug. 13-Sept. 13 U.S. Open, which will be played without spectators, has been hit with a number of high-profile withdrawals including Australian women\u2019s world number one Ash Barty and men\u2019s world number two Rafa Nadal. Adding to this, Roger Federer\u2019s injury means that this will be the first grand slam since 1999 where neither Rafael Nadal nor himself will be contesting the tournament.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut even with the (Black Lives Matter) movement and the whole protests and that type of stuff going on over there, I just don\u2019t think at the moment it\u2019s the correct time to go ahead with sport, in my opinion,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A fresh outbreak of COVID-19 in Melbourne has raised questions about whether the Australian Open can be held in January, with the city undergoing a second lockdown.<\/p>\n
Organisers are planning for it to go ahead, without fans if necessary, but Kyrgios was unconvinced.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the pandemic in Melbourne, I heard on the radio today I think 700 new cases, we reached new heights in deaths,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not sure the Australian Open will go on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nick Kyrgios has been at the forefront to talk about responsibility during the Covid-19 crisis. Starting from the Adria Tour, Kyrgios made it a point to heard regarding his disappointment regarding the demeanour of several top players who not only put their own health in jeopardy but also that of friends, family and fans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Australia\u2019s Nick Kyrgios said on Thursday he is unlikely to play at the French Open due to concerns about COVID-19.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":37380,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[357,202],"class_list":["post-16520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tennis","tag-nick-kyrgios","tag-tennis"],"reading_time":"3 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16520"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16520\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}