Australian Open: Djokovic contributes to suspense; AO organisers say there’s a lot of confusion
In spite of his name figuring in the primary draw entry list for the 2022 Australian Open and the Serbian committing to playing in the ATP Cup in Sydney– a lead-up competition to the opening major of the year–, world No. 1 Novak Djokovic has still not cleared the air on whether he will complete in the tournament beginning January 17.
The winner of 20 majors has yet to verify to the Australian Open organisers whether he has received the vaccination for Covid-19 or not, a prerequisite for completing at Melbourne Park where he is the defending champ.
Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley has turned down reports which recommend that a medical exemption might be approved to Djokovic, the nine-time Australian Open champion.
On Thursday night, Tiley stated it was “truly hard to say” whether Djokovic will safeguard his title in Melbourne. He stated that while the world No. 1’s name was on the 104-male gamers’ entry list, Tennis Australia would only understand about his involvement in the coming weeks.
“There’s a great deal of confusion (around the entry list),” he said on 3AW on Thursday. “The entry list is automated based on your ranking and then in the next two weeks it’s determined who on that list is coming and after that a couple of weeks after that, we do the draw. Gamers will pull themselves off the entry list if 100 per cent they know they aren’t turning up, it’s not a real list of verification of gamers in the Australian Open.”
The 34-year-old Djokovic is yet to openly expose whether he’s been fully immunized or not. His daddy, Srdjan, recently stated that Novak “probably won’t” play the Australian Open as the tournament organisers’ decision to not enable unvaccinated players– or gamers who don’t share their Covid-19 vaccination status– quantities to “blackmail”.
Asked whether Djokovic will decide to play in the Australian Open, Tiley said, “It’s a truly tough concern to address. If he’s immunized, we require proof of that certificate and if he’s not vaccinated and has a medical condition, he’ll have to go through the medical exemption procedure which’s managed blind so we don’t understand who’s making that application.
“A bit more will play out in the next number of weeks, we understand he wishes to come as does every other professional athlete however they understand the criteria and conditions they need to accept to come into Australia and into Victoria to play the Australian Open,” added Tiley.
Published at Fri, 10 Dec 2021 02:24:09 -0600
