Djokovic, US tournaments at risk due to the Covid vaccine obligation

New troubles ahead for Novak Djokovic. Back in Australia after the chaos of last year with a revoked visa and expulsion, the Serbian could miss again the appointments of Indian Wells and Miami, the first two 1000 of the season. And always for the same reason: the Covid vaccine. Indeed, the US authorities of the Transport Security Administration (TSA) have extended until April 10 the obligation to be vaccinated against the virus for non-American citizens who intend to enter the country.

alarm china

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All this due to the alarm coming from China, where the infections currently seem out of control due to the Omicron variant and the openings (after more than 2 years of continuous lockdown). We want to avoid “importing” a new variant, and therefore all over the world, especially in North America and Europe, checks have been reactivated especially at airports, with tests and vaccination certificates. In the USA, among other things, attention has returned to a very high level for the explosion of the so-called Gryphon subvariant, whose diffusion has soared in the last month as to be responsible for 41% of cases. In these circumstances Djokovic, who has always refused to get vaccinated up to now, could not compete in either the Indian Wells Masters 1000, which starts on March 6, or the following one in Miami, which will start on the 20th of the same month.

as in 2021

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In fact, the former world number one Serbian could not enter the United States, as had already happened to him in 2021, when he was not only forced to miss Indian Wells and Miami, but also the summer 1000 (in Cincinnati and Canada) and especially the US Open. It’s still too early to be sure of the absence of the Serb, whose case has always been debated in the US, with many defenses from colleagues and also from the Republican area, but what is certain is that for Nole another significant problem for its very troubled pandemic period.