Australian Open boss Craig Tiley said he had spoken to Novak Djokovic and his team about returning to the 2023 tournament, but that the decision was out of his hands.
The latest health advice from the federal government is that you do not need to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination to travel to and from Australia, but the situation is muddied by the fact that Djokovic’s visa cancellation means he is unable to enter the country for three years.
Fresh off his Wimbledon win, the Serbian superstar re-affirmed his vaccination status, which is likely to rule him out of the US Open.
READ MORE: Djokovic triumphs as Kyrgios explodes at box, umpire and ‘drunk’ in crowd
READ MORE: Nick Kyrgios explains what happened with drunk fan during Wimbledon final
READ MORE: Bellamy ‘seething’ as ‘serious cracks’ appear at Storm
READ MORE: Ferrari ace caught in F1 fire ‘disaster’
“I’m not vaccinated and I’m not planning to get vaccinated so the only good news I can have is them removing the mandated green vaccine card or whatever you call it to enter United States or exemption,” he said in his post-match press conference.
American great John McEnroe weighed in, imploring lawmakers to be less involved.
“These politicians are getting in the way too much,” McEnroe said.
“They did it in Australia. Let’s let the guy come in and play in the US I mean, come on. This is ridiculous.”
Djokovic said that he wasn’t hopeful of any sort of exemption, and that the law changing was his best chance.
“I think it’s just whether or not they remove this in time for me to get to the USA.”
But as that’s no longer the case down under, his ban from entering the country is the main issue going forward.
“We know he wants to [play] and obviously it’s been a difficult year for him, but that’s going to be others’ decision,” Tiley said on Nine’s Today.
“Everyone will look at it and say ‘there’s still some question around him competing at the US Open’ because you do have to be vaccinated entering into the United States if you don’t hold a US passport.
“We’ll deal with ours after the US Open. But I have spoken to him and his team and they’re very keen to come back and be in a position to hopefully have him showcase his great tennis.”
For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!