Djokovic to miss Indian Wells and Miami Open as US vaccine exemption
The world No 1 from Serbia admitted on Thursday that he would pull out before the draw was made
Tennis superstar Novak Djokovic’s chances of a Covid-19 vaccine exemption to enter the United States for next week’s Indian Wells Open appear to be dwindling.
The world No 1 from Serbia admitted on Thursday that he would pull out before the draw was made even if a decision on an exemption had not been confirmed.
With only five days until the first Masters tournament of the season, Djokovic, 35, has still received no answer from the American government regarding his application.
The United States remains the only country on the ATP tour that requires all international travellers to be vaccinated.
The protocol is due to be lifted on May 11 when the Biden administration plans to end all Covid-19 emergency declarations.
Djokovic missed out on several tournaments in the United States last year, including the US Open, after the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) refused to ease its regulations. Somewhat controversially, Djokovic did not remove his name from the Indian Wells entry list until a day after the draw was made, which left the draw unbalanced, forced the first alternate to go through qualifying instead of taking his vacant spot in the draw, and denied another player a place in the qualifying event.
There is no prospect of a similar debacle this time, though, as Djokovic has insisted he will give advance notice of his withdrawal rather than waiting until just before opening match.
This decision is likely to come after the Dubai Duty Free Championships concludes on Saturday. The draw for Indian Wells is on Sunday, with the event starting on Monday.
“Whatever the decision is, if I’m not allowed, I’m going to pull out, of course, before the draw,” Djokovic said. “Let’s see what the answer is, then I’ll take it from there. I’ll focus right now on the tournament here in Dubai, then we’ll see what’s next.”
A Djokovic withdrawal from Indian Wells could open the door for Carlos Alcaraz to return to world No 1. The 19-year-old Spaniard would need to win the title to return to the summit. If Djokovic were also to miss the Miami Open — which begins on March 20 — then it would be the first time this century that he, Roger Federer, who retired last year, and Rafael Nadal, who has a hip injury, have all been absent from the American “Sunshine Swing”.
Organisers of Indian Wells and Miami have made strong pleas to the US government to let Djokovic in. Tommy Haas, the Indian Wells tournament director, said that it would be a “disgrace” if Djokovic could not play, while his Miami counterpart, James Blake, said that he had “petitioned for an exemption based on the fact that there doesn’t seem to be any imminent danger with him playing”.
“We can’t have the Miami Open after May 11,” Blake told the Miami Herald. “It’s at the time it is and we’d love to have our greatest champion there. We’ve highlighted the fact that it would be good for the economy, for the Miami community, and for tennis fans all over the world who want to see the greatest player in our game play right now.”
