Battle of the Brits tennis event including Andy Murray cancelled amid rising Covid cases

Australian Open: Jamie Murray gives speech after doubles final

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The Battle of The Brits tournament has been cancelled amid uncertainties over the spread of Covid. The latest edition of the team event was set to take place in Aberdeen next week, with the likes of Andy Murray and Cameron Norrie headlining the Scotland v England tournament.

The Scotland v England edition of the Battle of The Brits tournament was set to take place on December 21 and 22 in Aberdeen’s P&J Live Arena.

The event is the brain-child of Jamie Murray, and was set to feature both him and Andy, as well as British No 1 Cameron Norrie on Team Scotland and world No 25 Dan Evans leading Team England.

However, tournament organisers confirmed on Friday (December 17) that the event had been postponed to 2022 amid the rising spread of Covid.

A new date for the men’s team competition is yet to be announced.

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“Obviously this is incredibly disappointing for all of us organising the event, the players and, most importantly, the fans who wanted to come and watch us,” tournament director Jamie Murray said.

“Andy and I, and all the players due to take part are absolutely gutted but some things are bigger than tennis. All that matters is keeping everyone safe.”

The two-time men’s doubles Grand Slam champion confirmed that the tournament would be returning next year, adding: “We’ve been blown away by Aberdeen’s enthusiasm for the event and we’re all looking forward to staging the Schroders Battle of the Brits in 2022.”

It comes just one day after Andy Murray confirmed that the Aberdeen tournament would still be going ahead while in Abu Dhabi for the Mubadala World Tennis Championship.

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“As far as I’m aware it’s still going ahead but obviously it changes daily as to what the guidance is and what is and isn’t allowed,” the former world No 1 told reporters following his 6-3 6-2 win over compatriot Dan Evans on Thursday (December 16).

“Certainly it’s very concerning what’s happening at home just now, the number of cases. It’s rising unbelievably quickly. There’s lots of people that I know that have had the virus recently or have just caught it, which was not really the case with the first couple of waves.”

Murray did note that “things are obviously changing all the time just now so we’ll have to wait and see,” with the tournament then being postponed less than 24 hours later.

The 34-year-old himself has already scaled back his Christmas plans ahead of the upcoming Australian Open, with fears over the spread of the Omicron variant.

Last year he was forced to withdraw from the season-opening Grand Slam after testing positive for Covid and being unable to find a “workable quarantine”.

Instead of spending the festive season with his extended family in Scotland, he will now stay home with wife Kim Sears and their four children in Surrey, and is planning to get the booster jab while at home before flying to Australia.

Another British Grand Slam champion has already had their pre-season thrown into havoc after testing positive for Covid.

Emma Raducanu was set to play an exhibition match against gold medallist Belinda Bencic at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship on Thursday (December 16) but was forced to withdraw after testing positive.

She was replaced by world No 10 Ons Jabeur, who came from behind to beat the Swiss in a match tiebreak, 4-6 6-4 10-8.

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