Great Britain’s Andy Murray signs autographs after winning his French Open second round match against Portugal’s Joao Sousa in Paris yesterday. (AFP)
DPA/Paris
Andy Murray remains cautious about overall security around players in tennis, with the world number three not overly concerned about his safety amidst the public after Roger Federer’s French Open selfie scare at the weekend.
But Murray warned tennis must never forget the stabbing on court in Hamburg two decades ago of Monica Seles, an incident which the teenager never quite recovered from and surely curtailed her skyrocketing career.
Federer was joined by a teen fan who snuck on the Philippe Chatrier court post-match in hopes of getting a selfie. He was instead hustled off after security finally woke up to the fact after several minutes that he had no business being out there with the Swiss icon.
“I have genuinely never actually been concerned about my security,” said Murray, who sat amid the public this week to cheer on a compatriot during a match. “I have never been in a situation where I have actually freaked out.
“Sometimes, when I am on my own, I do think: ‘Wow, there are so many people there, what if someone really doesn’t like you’.
“It is possible. You obviously saw what happened with Monica Seles. It is very rare but these things are not impossible so it is important that security looks after the players.
“But it is one of the nice things about tennis as well, at the practice courts and most of the events, and getting to and from practice, the fans do get access to the players at a lot of the events.”
