Novak Djokovic will defend his title at Wimbledon.Photo: Antonio Borga/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty
The U.S. Open has confirmed that Serbian tennis playerNovak Djokovicwill not be allowed to compete due to his refusal to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
In astatementreleased Wednesday, the U.S. Open explained that they had to follow the U.S. government’s rules on keeping unvaccinated non-U.S. citizens out of the country. Typically, the organizers said, eligible players are automatically seeded into the tournament, but they were unable to include Djokovic.
“The US Open does not have a vaccination mandate in place for players, but it will respect the U.S. government’s position regarding travel into the country for unvaccinated non-U.S. citizens,” the statement read.
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“I’m not vaccinated and I’m not planning to get vaccinated so the only good news I can have is them removing the mandated green vaccine card or whatever you call it to enter United States or exemption,” 35-year-old Djokovic said. “I don’t know. I don’t think exemption is realistically possible. If that is possibility, I don’t know what [an] exemption would be about.”
“I don’t know,” Djokovic added. “I don’t have much answers there.”
A rep for the player did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
This would not be the first time Djokovic is unable to compete due to his refusal to get a COVID-19 vaccine. In January,Djokovic was deported from Australiabecause of his vaccine status and could not play in the Australian Open, the year’s first Grand Slam tournament.
Wimbledon did not make COVID-19 vaccination mandatoryin order to participate in this year’s tournament, enabling Djokovic to enter and eventually win. But he remains unable to play in the 2023 Australian Open since he is not eligible for a visa in the country, leaving the tennis star out of the next two major tournaments.
Novak Djokovic.Visionhaus/Getty
Djokovic told reporters after winning Wimbledon on July 10 that he is “on vacation,” adding that he will “definitely be resting for the next couple of weeks” after his recent tournament schedule.
“Then I’ll wait hopefully for some good news from USA because I would really love to go there,” Djokovic said, according to ESPN. “That would be probably the next big tournament, the next big swing, playing a tournament or two before US Open and US Open. If that doesn’t happen, then I have to see what the schedule will look like.”
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Djokovic slid to No. 7 in the ATP world rankings after Wimbledon in part because he wasn’t allowed to play at the Australian Open, and the Serbian star’s ranking is likely to fall further now that he won’t be playing at the U.S. Open.
Djokovic has won 21 Grand Slam titles in his career and stands just one behind Spain’sRafael Nadalfor theall-time record.
The U.S. Open begins on August 29 and runs through Sept. 11 in New York City.
source: people.com
