Again entry whirl around Tennis-Superstar Novak Djokovic (35)
The Serb is still struggling with his vaccination status. During the corona pandemic, the 22-time Grand Slam champion decided against vaccination and therefore had to forego several tournament participations.
Djokovic is also not allowed to serve in the USA for the time being!
The world number one had to cancel his start in Indian Wells two weeks ago. The reason: An exemption that he would have needed due to his vaccination status was not granted to him.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (44) then spoke up and supported Djokovic so that he could at least play in the tournament in Miami from March 22nd. He said at a press conference: “I would bring a boat over here from the Bahamas for him. I would do that one hundred percent.”
But nothing will come of it. Djokovic also has to do without the Masters tournament in the American southern metropolis because the government has again not given permission.
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Miami tournament director James Blake (43) explains: “We tried to get an exemption for Novak Djokovic. But that didn’t work. We’ve tried to talk to the government, but that’s out of our hands.”
And further: “We are one of the most important tournaments in the world, we want to have the best players who can play. We did everything we could.”
Bitter for Djokovic: Due to the cancellation of the tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami, he loses his lead over his world ranking pursuers. The USA events are part of the 1000 tournament series that, apart from the Grand Slam tournaments, award the most world ranking points and prize money on the ATP tour.
Djokovic could be ousted from the top
Super talent Carlos Alcaraz (19) could even oust Djokovic from the top spot with a tournament win in Indian Wells. The “Djoker” sees it quite relaxed.
It wasn’t until the end of February that he said: “They play a lot of tournaments, many weeks. I don’t play that much and I don’t intend to play as many weeks as they do. I guess at some point they take number 1, then I bring it back, then they take it again, then we go in circles.”