Rafa calls for ALL players to be vaccinated

Rafa Nadal has told Spanish media every player should be vaccinated against coronavirus if they are to continue playing at the highest level.

And that includes anti-vaxxer Novak Djokovic, who last week admitted he was against vaccination and said that he would have to consider his future if inoculation was a stipulation for returning to the sport.

“No one can demand of anyone,” Nadal told La Voz de Galicia.

“Everyone is free. But the truth is if you belong to a circuit, perhaps one has to be governed by the rules that the circuit requires.

“So if the tour obliges [players] to vaccinate to be able to travel to protect everyone, Djokovic will have to be vaccinated if he wants to continue playing tennis at the highest level.

“I mean him, but also everyone… me too. Everyone will have to comply exactly like [it is] now when we have to stay home.

“If the ATP or the ITF forces us to get a vaccine to play tennis, then we will have to get it, just as we have restrictions on not taking too many medications for obvious doping control issues. It is a matter of following the rules.”

The covid-19 pandemic has forced a suspension of both the ATP and WTA tours, with Wimbledon cancelled and Roland Garros rescheduled for late September.

Meanwhile, tennis has resumed in the Chinese city Wuhan, the epicentre of the pandemic.

The city reopened its tennis courts this week but it is not known if the Wuhan WTA Premier tournament will go ahead in September.