A dark future for Djokovic if he doesn’t get vaccinated

Time is running out against Djokovic. At 34 years old, any option that escapes him in the big tournaments will hardly return. With 20 Grand Slam titles, his will to tie the tie with Nadal and Federer is in serious jeopardy in the current circumstances if he does not get vaccinated. Will the Serbian be able to play at Roland Garros, Wimbledon or the US Open?

Roland Garros: In Paris they open the door from the French Government

He is the great that has been given the least good, with only two titles in his history, but right now he is the only one that opens the door a crack so that he maintains options to shine in the Parisian spring. On January 7, the French Minister of Sports, Roxana Maracineanu, stated that the will of the tournament organizers is to create a health bubble that allows unvaccinated tennis players to participate in Roland Garros. It should be remembered that according to the ATP, 97 percent of tennis players already have the vaccination schedule, which would try to generate a specific protocol to stop a minority. Yesterday, the president of the French Tennis Federation, Gilles Moretton, picked up the minister’s glove and said that Roland Garrós “is working to welcome unvaccinated athletes, in collaboration with public authorities.” We will have to see how the sanitary conditions are at the end of May, but if they do not improve much, the pressure towards Roland Garros in French society could be a source of controversy.

Wimbledon: Many difficulties to access the All England Club

About a hypothetical presence of Novak Djokovic at the All England Club, grass on which he has prevailed up to six times, there is enormous uncertainty. “All I will say is that I believe in vaccination and I think it is a wonderful thing,” said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, when questioned about the matter. Right now an unvaccinated person has to quarantine for ten days when entering England with a PCR test on the second day and another on the eighth after entering the country, requirements that would complicate the preparation of Novak Djokovic, who would have to be a few days without exercising on the track and would start at a disadvantage with the rest of his opponents. “He will have to find a way to get vaccinated, otherwise he will have a problem often to try to win the Grand Slams, which are his priority objective,” said former Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli.

US Open: Almost impossible to participate in Flushing Meadows

In the United States, not only is the last tennis major of each season played in September, but it also hosts three Masters 1,000 (Indian Wells, Miami and Cincinatti). The first of them is very close, from March 10 to 20. At present a participation of Djokovic in these four tournaments would be practically impossible. Full vaccination is mandatory for foreign travelers, and exemptions are very specific. One of them is not having contracted the coronavirus before, so it would be very difficult for the Serb to be eligible for a fourth title in Flushing Meadows. In 2020 he was disqualified for hitting a line judge with the racket in his match against Carreño, and in 2021 he lost in the final against Medvedev when he was opting to lead the ranking of big titles… And in 2022? As has been the case with covid for two years, in the end everything will depend both on Djokovic’s decision (if he backs down and changes his mind) and on the health situation at the time the other big tournaments are played. Australia has set a precedent.

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