The Serb, with the Wimbledon title still popular, now faces months of uncertainty as he does not get vaccinated
“I’m going to rest for the next two weeks,” said Novak Djokovic with the Wimbledon trophy in his claws. “Now that my holiday is starting, I don’t know how long it will last,” explains Goran Ivanisevic, his coach. And it is that the calendar of Novak Djokovic at the moment is an unknown quantity. The Serb will only know for sure that he can play in the Laver Cup in London in September and that he can attend the ATP Finals in Turin. The latter as long as it doesn’t fall out of the top 20, as the Grand Slam winners are guaranteed a place in the Masters Cup as long as they are among the top 20 in the world.
The problem for Djokovic is that the tournament he would most like to play, the only tournament marked red on his calendar due to the possibility of adding 22 Grand Slams, the US Open, is a completely unknown, or rather impossible. “I hope they give me good news about the US Open,” continued the seven-time Wimbledon champion. “Because I want to play. The only news I expect is they either abolish the rule to get vaccinated or they give me an exemption,” he added.
The option to get vaccinated doesn’t even take it into account. It was clear at the start of the tournament and when they asked him if he was clear he wasn’t going to go through the puncture, he replied with a “yes” and a smile. Now he has admitted it publicly: “I have not been vaccinated and do not intend to.” This closes the doors of the United States, which does not allow the entry of unvaccinated people. “Maybe Biden will change his mind,” Ivanisevic reflected.
The truth is that with the uptick in covid cases in the world, it seems difficult to implement a change in legislation within a month and a half, which is left for the action to start in Flushing Meadows (August 29 – September 11). “If Novak goes to the United States, that will be nice. If not, what can we do? It’s another tournament. We will see. Lots of crazy things are happening in the world. Something changes every day. We will see what will happen,” added Ivanisevic.
If his absence is confirmed, it will be the second Grand Slam he has missed this season after being deported from Australia in January. He was set to sign a quarter-final at Roland Garros and a win at Wimbledon, the one he described as “relief”, after a couple of very difficult months as a result of what happened in Melbourne.
“I needed time for the Australian storm to subside. He was not well mentally or physically. In Dubai, my first tournament of the year, there was a lot of pressure on me. I was patient and trusted that at some point I would be at the level I wanted to be,” said the Serb, who may not have lived his last chapter of the Australian saga against Djokovic.
Because his visa was revoked in January, the Serb needs a permit from the Australian government to enter the country, so his participation in the next Australian Open is also up for discussion. At least, the veto against unvaccinated in the oceanic country ended a few weeks ago, so unless a law change comes, this obstacle will be resolved.
With this paradigm, the race to become the tennis player with the most Grand Slams in history is postponed to Roland Garros 2023, with two margin tournaments for Rafa Nadal to boost his income and even for Roger Federer to return to the track.
Source: La Verdad
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