The Serb will not be able to participate in the last Grand Slam of the year because of his refusal to be vaccinated against covid
The soap opera Novak Djokovic-US Open lasted practically until the last minute. An hour before the draw for the American Grand Slam, the Serb, three-time champion in New York, announced his withdrawal from the tournament. “Unfortunately, this time I can’t travel to New York to play the US Open,” Djokovic said on his social networks.
Thank you all for your support and for your encouraging messages. Good luck to my colleagues. I will continue to train with positivity and I look forward to the opportunity to participate again. Goodbye,” added de Belgrade, which has spent the past two months waiting for a change in legislation to enter the United States.
Current laws do not allow unvaccinated people to travel to the US country, which prevented Djokovic, last year’s finalist, from attending the tournament. His refusal to get vaccinated has been staunch since the start of the pandemic and he confirmed it with a resounding ‘no’ the last time he was asked about the matter at Wimbledon.
In this way, Djokovic loses the 1,200 points he defended from last year’s final, in which he lost to Daniil Medvedev, and falls outside the top ten for the first time since July 2018.
The controversy surrounding Djokovic’s case is thorny as the US Open will allow unvaccinated tennis players living in the United States to play, while the Serb will be barred from participating because he has to come from abroad.
This will be the second Grand Slam of the year that Djokovic will miss, having stayed out of Australia when he was deported when the medical exemption originally granted by the Australian government was refused. At Roland Garros, he reached the quarter-finals, where he was stopped by Rafael Nadal, while he won his seventh title at Wimbledon, lifting his Grand Slam record to 21, one above Roger Federer and one below Nadal.
Source: La Verdad
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