Millman speaks out on coronavirus near miss

Australian tennis ace John Millman may have dodged the coronavirus, but he's still resigned to not playing again this year.

Millman fears the global nature of his sport will leave it almost impossible for the respective men's and women's tours to reset again in 2020.

"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.

"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."

Millman fully expects the All England Club to cancel, or at least postpone, Wimbledon at an emergency meeting next week in London.

He considers an August/September continuation as "the best-case-scenario".

"But I just can't see us playing tennis for a long time and now it's a matter of trying to stay fit, trying to scrape by a little bit while not much is coming in," he said.

"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 Australians are doing it a lot tougher than me.

"When we're talking about someone's health as well, it's pretty serious, and that's when it puts it into perspective."

Millman was the last player to face Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild - the first professional to test positive to coronavirus.

But, after showing no symptoms and speaking with the Australian team doctor and other Brazilian players following the Davis Cup clash three weeks ago in Adelaide, Millman is confident he never contracted the disease.

Nevertheless, with social-distancing restrictions in place and the Queensland Tennis Centre in lockdown, Millman is staying home in Brisbane using a makeshift gym to try to remain as fit as possible.

"Our doctor said it's probably pretty unlikely he was carrying it in Adelaide," Millman said.

"It's now been a certain amount of days, that if he was carrying it in Adelaide, that if someone caught it, they would be showing symptoms.

"So as far as I'm aware I shouldn't be doing anything else on top of that. I've been feeling pretty good."



from WWOS http://wwos.nine.com.au/tennis/millman-s-fears-for-entire-2020-atp-season/a3e13b97-ee35-4299-96fc-79bd6cad3319

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