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Former World No. 1 Andy Murray believes the ATP tour should have a domestic violence policy in light of the allegations made against two male players - World No. 7 Alexander Zverev and World No. 40 Nikoloz Basilashvili - over the past few months.
Seventh-ranked Alexander Zverev has been accused of domestic abuse by his ex-girlfriend Olya Sharypova, although no charges have been filed by her. Basilashvili has been accused of the same by his ex-wife, and the matter is currently on trial in the court.
The ATP have not made any specific comments on either case, but they did make a delayed statement on the issue in general after the Zverev-Sharypova case came to light.
“In circumstances where allegations of violence or abuse are made against any member of the Tour, legal authorities investigate and due process, we then review the outcome and decide the appropriate course of action,” the ATP had said in a statement.
Andy Murray pointed out how late the ATP were in reacting to the case, and called for a proper policy to be put in place for such situations.
"Obviously I don’t think they actually came out and said anything for… well I don’t know how long it was.. but it go certainly was not immediate. It was over a week after it came out. I have read some stuff, and obviously tennis doesn’t have a domestic abuse policy so that is obviously something we as a sport should be looking into," Andy Murray said.
Having a policy would enable the ATP to be a bit more proactive in such situations: Andy Murray
According to Andy Murray, having a policy would enable the ATP to be more proactive in the future, rather than being caught off-guard the way they were in the two cases this year.
"So that the ATP know what to do in that situation, rather than having to think and react to it. They can be a bit more proactive in a situation like that. Obviously need to take it extremely seriously and see what comes of it in the coming months," Andy Murray added.
Like Andy Murray, World No. 1 Novak Djokovic also advocated the need for a policy on the issue when he spoke to the media during last week's ATP Finals.
"Yeah, I mean, why not? Probably it should be there in place. But I guess it wasn't developed and it wasn't there because we just did not have the cases like this," said Djokovic. "I have not heard that we had maybe top players involved in such instances. So maybe that kind of case will in a way inspire ATP to do something like that."
