Nadal: Djokovic will need vaccine if required by the tour

Rafael Nal says vak Djokovic will need to be vaccinated to keep playing if governing bodies of tennis make coronavirus shots obligatory once y become available.

Nal told Spanish newspaper La Voz de Galicia this week that Djokovic and all players will have to follow rules when tennis eventually returns to action.

Nal said one can be forced to take vaccine and everyone should be free to make ir choices, but all players will have to comply if tennis officials require “vaccination to travel” and to “protect” everyone on tour.

“n Djokovic will have to be vaccinated if he wants to keep playing tennis at top level,” Nal said. “ same for me. Everyone will have to follow rules, just like w we have to stay at home.”

Djokovic recently said he was against taking a vaccine for coronavirus even if it became mandatory to travel. He later said he was open to changing his mind.

“If ATP or International Tennis Federation obligates us to take vaccine to play tennis, n we will have to do it,” Nal said.

Spaniard compared it to restrictions players alrey have on medicines because of doping controls.

“It’s about following rules, thing more than that,” he said.

re is still vaccine available against new coronavirus, which has killed more than 270,000 people around world.

Djokovic on Monday broke confinement rules in Spain after a local club said it mistakenly allowed him to practice on one of its courts.

Tennis players are likely to be authorized to be back on courts in Spain beginning on Monday, May 11. Nal said he returned to practice but did it on a private court.

Nal recently said he was pessimistic about return of tennis in 2020. He said that if given option, he would scrap this season entirely so tennis could resume rmally in 2021.

Djokovic won Australian Open in early February, before sports were brought to a halt because of virus. It was his 17th Grand Slam trophy overall. Only Roger Federer, with 20, and Nal, with 19, have won more men’s Grand Slam singles trophies than Djokovic.

More than 30 sanctioned events have been scrapped since early March until at least mid-July. Wimbledon was canceled for first time in 75 years, while start of French Open has been postponed from May until September.

U.S. Open is scheduled to begin in New York in late August, but organizers said y will decide in June if that tournament will be held at all.