Novak Djokovic is set to miss next week’s Miami Open ATP Masters event after he was denied a Covid-19 vaccine exemption that would enable him to enter the United States without receiving a vaccination against Covid-19, tournament director James Blake said Friday.
“We tried to get Novak Djokovic to be allowed to get an exemption, but that wasn’t able to happen,” Blake announced to Tennis Channel. “Obviously, we’re one of the premier tournaments in the world. We’d like to have the best players that can play. We did all that we could. We tried to talk to the government, but that’s out of our hands.”
This decision will see Djokovic miss the upcoming Masters’ tournament in Indian Wells, California as well due to being denied entry to the country. Currently, the U.S. bars entry from unvaccinated foreigners to the country as part of its COVID-19 emergency declarations. This policy is expected to be lifted on May 11, however, meaning that Djokovic may be able to re-enter the United States in time for this year’s U.S. Open Grand Slam.
