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World No. 26 Karen Khachanov says he respects Novak Djokovic's vaccine decision but adds having the Serb in all tournaments would be better for the game. Djokovic told the BBC he is willing to skip tournaments that require its participants to be fully vaccinated.
Djokovic kicked off his 2022 season this week in Dubai and on Wednesday he will be facing Khachanov in the round-of-16. "It’s a very delicate situation; he (Novak) needs to stand with his decisions & I respect that a lot.
Obviously it would be better if he can play a normal season & can go everywhere but I think he has team around him, he has his own decisions & he’ll stick to them," Khachanov said, per Reem Abulleil. "But if we speak in general, of course not seeing him in many tournaments as a world No.1, it will be tough for him to maybe kind of stay there and to find the rhythm also.
So let’s see what happens."
Khachanov happy with his game
Before the start of the season, Khachanov said his goal is to return to the top-10 this year. Khachanov ended runner-up in Adelaide in his first tournament of the season and last week he reached the Doha semifinal.
"I’m really feeling on the rise. I’m pumped about my game. I have good feelings inside me. Of course I always want to win these kind of matches, the last one vs Bautista I lost, which was close; today I could lose as well but I went through & tmrw I have an opportunity," Khachanov said.
"And that’s what I think makes me a better player, a stronger player mentally, and this is where I want to be. I want to come back to top 10 as soon as possible, where I was, and I think I’m capable of doing that, so I just need to go into that direction."