World number one Novak Djokovic is not expected to compete in the Australian Open (January 17-3).
This is in any case what strongly suggests his father, who deplores the blackmail "of the organizers, who announced a compulsory vaccination
Even if the player has not announced his decision, a standoff seems to have started between Novak Djokovic and the Australian organizers, worried about the Covid epidemic. The tennis player, nine times titled in Melbourne, whose last time in February, refuses to say if he has been vaccinated or not against the Covid-19, while the boss of the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, Craig Tiley , had declared, a few days ago, that the Serb “will have to be vaccinated to play”.
“Of course he would want to go with all his heart.
Because he is a sportsman and because there are many of our compatriots, the diaspora, there who would be delighted to see Novak, ”Srdjan Djokovic, the player's father, told Serbian channel Prva TV.
But I really don't know if that will happen.
Probably not under these conditions, with this blackmail and when it is done that way ”.
Srdjan Djokovic also defended his son's "exclusive and personal right" to be vaccinated or not, and claimed that even he did not know if the player was vaccinated against Covid-19.
In the spring of 2020, Novak Djokovic spoke out against compulsory vaccination to participate in tournaments.
In June of the same year, he contracted Covid-19 during a charity tournament he organized in the Balkans.