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The 2021 season is over and by now the whole circuit is enjoying this mini vacation waiting for the Australian tour. In the first days of 2022 we will start with the ATP Cup, there will be several minor tournaments and at the end of the month there will be the long-awaited Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the year.
For the first time for a tennis tournament, athletes, as well as professionals and amateurs, will also need to have a vaccination requirement in order to play in tournaments to be played in Australia. Because of this, some athletes see their presence in doubt and the first of them is the current champion and world number one, Novak Djokovic.
Several times the Serbian has questioned the situation regarding the vaccine in the past and, even today, he has not yet specified whether or not he had the Coronavirus vaccine. Good news had arrived in the last few hours, but now there was a sharp and significant slowdown.
Yesterday the organizers of the Australian Open 2022 announced the entry list for the men's and women's tournament and in the men's, with the exception of Roger Federer, all the best in the world were present. Novak Djokovic was also on the entry list and the organizers themselves spoke of a certain presence of Nole willing to defend his title.
Tennis Australia director Craig Tiley slowed down and made important statements on the entry list and world number one: "The official entry list for the tournament came out yesterday and Novak Djokovic was also present. However, that was just a formality and all this does not mean that he will surely play the tournament."
Nole won three Grand Slam titles
16-time Slam doubles champion Todd Woodbridge asserts that such ideas are completely wrong and that Novak Djokovic will be subject to the same rules as every other competitor.
“Well the fact is he’s on the Australian Open entry list,” Woodbridge said on 9 News. “And of course he’s also in the ATP Cup in Sydney in the first tournament of the New Year. If he passes [the criteria] then he will be able to play.
There’s so much speculation at this point that he needs to answer those questions first. If he does pass those, I think it’s fantastic that we’re going to have the world number one back in Australia. But, he has to do what every other traveller does when they come into Australia,” Woodbridge added.
“It’s not about entitled tennis players or tennis players in general. It’s about what every other person has to do, and that’s what he has to do”.