The world No. 1 tennis player will miss the Miami Open next week due to his injury Covid-19 vaccination Status.
Novak Djokovic who recently won his 22nd Grand Slam at the Australian Open, according to Miami Open tournament director James Blake, a special permit to enter the United States was denied.
Novak Djokovic of Serbia argues with the chair umpire during his second round match against Enzo Couacaud of France at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, January 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
“Obviously we’re running one of the best tournaments in the world, we want to have the best players that can play,” Blake told the Tennis Channel on Friday. “We did everything we could. We tried to talk to the government but it’s not in our hands. We tried and he couldn’t play.”
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“The same result he had Indian Wellswhere I know Tommy Haas [Indian Wells tournament director] did as much as he could. We tried to get Novak Djokovic to get an exemption, but it wasn’t possible.”
In February, Djokovic applied for a special permit to enter the US to play for tournaments be unvaccinated against COVID-19.
The US currently requires all non-US citizens to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to enter the country by air.
Serbia’s Novak Djokovic reacts after his match against Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz (not pictured) during their Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship in Dubai March 2, 2023. (KARIM SAHIB/AFP via Getty Images)
In recent weeks there has been pressure from politicians to allow Djokovic to enter the country.
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In a letter obtained by Fox News Digital, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis urged President Biden to “put aside pandemic politics and give the American people what they want — let him play.” DeSantis wrote that Djokovic’s refusal to enter the United States was unfair, unscientific and unacceptable.”
The Miami Open will be played from March 20th to April 2nd and the Indian Wells tournament is scheduled for March 6th to 19th.
Novak Djokovic of Serbia competes with Hubert Hurkacz of Poland (not seen) during the men’s singles quarterfinal match of Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on March 02, 2023. (Waleed Zein/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
In January, Indian Wells tournament director Tommy Haas said it would be a “shame” if Djokovic couldn’t compete in the US because of him vaccination status.
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“The only problem, of course, is that he still can’t come to the United States. If he doesn’t play Indian Wells and Miami in March (it’s going to be difficult), they should lift those mandates by mid-April,” Haas told reporters.
“It would be nice to see if maybe we could pick those up a bit sooner and get him to play at Indian Wells and Miami. I think he wants to play, so we should give him a chance. Hopefully we can have him there.” He continued.
“I mean, I think it would be a shame if he didn’t come to these events or he wasn’t allowed to come.”
Fox News’ Ryan Gaydos contributed to this report.
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