Andy Murray has admitted his lack of
grand-slam action in recent years is
why he is prepared to travel to New
York for the US Open this month, as
Nick Kyrgios became the latest player
to confirm he will not compete in the
tournament because of coronavirus.
Players have to make their intentions
clear by this afternoon, when the entry
list closes for the two-week event,
scheduled to be held behind closed
doors at Flushing Meadows from
August 31. Organisers are braced for
high-profile absences after the decision
last week of Ashleigh Barty, the world
No 1 from Australia, not to participate.
While well aware that the United
States has been hit hardest by Covid-19,
Murray, 33, cannot resist the tempta-
tion to take part. He has had two opera-
respect anyone’s personal choice on the
matter.” On the pitch, however,
Folau made little impact as Catalans
lost 34-6.
All 34 players took the knee ahead of
the game between Huddersfield Giants
and Leeds Rhinos at Huddersfield,
which Leeds won 27-26 after coming
back from 26-6 down to win with an
golden-point drop-goal from Luke Gale.Folau stands out as the only player
not to take a knee at St HelensLewis excels but falls short
Golf Tom Lewis finished with a share
of the early clubhouse lead at the
WGC-FedEx St Jude Invitational in
Memphis after an outstanding
weekend performance.
The 29-year-old from Welwyn
Garden City equalled the course
record of 61 on Saturday and backed
it up with a 66 to finish on 10 under
par. At one stage, he was tied for the
lead. The challenge of his compatriot,
Matthew Fitzpatrick, ended with a
double bogey at the 17th, which
dropped him to nine under. Justin
Thomas later finished on 13 under,
with Brooks Koepka one shot and one
hole behind.
Elsewhere Sam Horsfield, 23, won
his maiden European Tour title at the
Hero Open.Kyrgios attacks ‘selfish’ players
as he withdraws from US Open
tions on his right hip in the past three
years and made singles appearances at
only two of the past ten grand-slams.
“With the situation I’ve been in the
last few years, I’ve not had the opportu-
nity to play in many slams,” Murray
said. “I’ve missed it a lot. I love playing
in the biggest events, even though this
will be different with no fans. But it is
something I care about and am willing
to take a risk to go and play.”
Murray had a good week of prepara-
tion at the St James’s Place Battle of the
Brits mixed-team event, winning three
of his four doubles matches. His efforts
were not enough to prevent a loss for
Union Jacks, with Joe Salisbury and
Harriet Dart defeating Jamie Murray
and Heather Watson 6-4, 6-2 to claim a
63-56 overall win for British Bulldogs.
The absence of Kyrgios, 25, in New
York is not a huge surprise given how
vocal he has been in criticising thebehaviour of some players in recent
months. The Australian, ranked No 40
in the world, announced his decision in
a video on social media. True to form,
Kyrgios could not resist taking further
aim at those who were involved in
Novak Djokovic’s controversial Adria
Tour series in the Balkans in June. Nine
people involved, including the world
No 1 from Serbia, tested positive for
Covid-19, after players hugged on court
and danced topless in a Belgrade club.
“Tennis players, you have to act in the
interest of each other and work
together,” Kyrgios said. “You can’t be
dancing on tables, money grabbing
your way around Europe or trying to
make a quick buck hosting an exhibi-
tion. That’s just so selfish.
“Think of the other people for once,
that is what this virus is about, it doesn’t
care about your world ranking or how
much money you have.”Tennis
Stuart Fraser Tennis Correspondent Froome chasing leader
Cycling Chris Froome is 16 seconds
off the lead after two stages of the
Route d’Occitanie in France. The
four-times Tour de France winner
was competing for the second time
since a serious crash last summer.
Froome was credited with the same
time as stage winner Sonny Colbrelli
as he came in 95th in the second
stage of the event from Carcassonne
to Cap Découverte. Bryan Coquard
leads overall.
Froome, who is set to leave Team
Ineos at the end of the season, is
bidding to get back into form for the
start of this year’s Tour on August 29.
Froome returned in February to the
UAE Tour in Dubai but the event was
cut short after five stages because of
the pandemic.Israel Folau added another episode to
an already controversial career yester-
day when he was the only player not to
take a knee before Catalans Dragons’
Super League game away to St Helens.
As rugby league resumed,
players from both teams took the
stance against racism made famous by
the NFL player Colin Kaepernick, as
did the referee Ben Thaler and Robert
Elstone, the Super League chief
executive. Folau, however, remained
standing. The 31-year-old, a former
Australia rugby union international,
was sacked by Rugby Australia last year
for repeatedly expressing homophobic
views on social media. He returned to
rugby league with Catalans.
He has impressed on the field
and recently signed a new contract with
the club. Steve McNamara, the
Catalans head coach, defended Folau’s
decision. “As a group of players and
coaching staff, we spoke about it in
depth and as a club we are completely
against racism and all for equal oppor-
tunity,” he said.
“But there were some players and
staff who made the decision not to take
the knee. They have their own reasons
for doing that and we decided we wouldSport
Leon Smith and Anne Keothavong, team captains at the Battle of the Brits, take part in a safe, socially-distant trophy lift
JULIAN FINNEY/GETTY IMAGES FOR BATTLE OF THE BRITSFolau courts controversy
again by not taking knee
Rugby league
505 2GM Monday August 3 2020 | the times