Murray warns tennis chiefs against quick return after virus

LONDON:

Andy Murray insists tennis must take it slowly as the sport's bosses consider when to return after the coronavirus.

The men's ATP and women's WTA tours are suspended until at least July 13 due to the pandemic, while this year's Wimbledon has been cancelled.

Premier League football clubs are hoping to finish their postponed season in the summer.

But former world number one Murray believes tennis will be one of the last sports to resume due to the travel required.

"I'm sure all tennis players want to get back to competing and playing as soon as possible. But right now that is not the most important thing, Murray said on Tuesday.

"First of all, we want to get our normal lives back, just being able to go out, see friends, go to restaurants and have your normal freedoms.

"And then hopefully over time, things will start to allow for travelling and sport will be able to go back to normal as well. But I don't see that happening very soon."

Murray believes containing the virus is essential before there is any thought of tennis getting back in full swing.

At present the US Open and French Open are both set for August and September, but Murray said: "The first thing is to try and find a way to stop the virus spreading and once we have done that we will be able to do more normal things that everyone does rather than thinking about competing at sport.

"When you don't get to see it for a while, maybe people realise how much they love playing it, but just because it's difficult not to have sport just now doesn't mean we have to speed things up.

"I'm obviously no expert on this but I assume the danger is when you try to do things too quickly -- like avoiding social distancing.

"If we get back to international travel, then maybe there could be a second wave of infections and that would slow everything down again and that's not what anyone wants. Let's just get things back to normal first."