‘We won’t play for a long time’ – John Millman offers bleak outlook for tennis due to coronavirus crisis

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Roger Federer and John Millman

John Millman fears tennis will suffer more than most due to the coronavirus outbreak, saying “I just can’t see us playing tennis for a long time.”

Currently, attempts to control the spread of coronavirus have resulted in there being no tennis until June 8 at the earliest.

Millman, though, believes tennis’ global logistics will mean the enforced break is considerably longer.

“We’re going to have to be pretty unified in terms of our recovery process before the tour can resume,” Millman told AAP.

“Maybe the tournament location has got the COVID-19 situation under wraps and then manage to contain it, but if someone’s flying in from South America, say, and their country hasn’t got a hold of it, then the tournament can’t exist.

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“You can’t have the tournament going when only certain players can get there. I think that’s where the problems lie.

“It’s almost like we have to have a vaccine or the virus has to run its course before there’ll be any let-up there.

“It’s a matter of trying to stay fit, trying to scrape by a little bit while not much is coming in,

“You’re used to a bit of money coming in and obviously that’s not the case anymore. Yeah, it’s tough. It’s just not easy. You try and make do.

“But I don’t want to be a sob story, that’s for sure, because I know [many] are doing it a lot tougher than me.”

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John Millman

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