21-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic faces a possible expulsion from the 2022 US Open which starts on 29th August 2022 in New York as the final Grand Slam of the season. The Serb is denied entry into the USA because of his decision to remain unvaccinated against Covid-19 and as per the State policy, no unvaccinated foreigner can enter the USA. While the country allows foreigners to enter without the need to show a negative RT-PCR test, vaccination remains compulsory.
If Djokovic remains absent, he will be missing his second Grand Slam of the season for the same reason as he was deported from Australia hours before his first-round match at the 2022 Australian Open. Novak is just 1 Grand Slam title away from matching Rafael Nadal‘s tally of 22 Grand Slam titles and the US Open will be a great opportunity for him to match Rafa while also defending the 1200 points he has from last year’s runner-up finish.
“Novak Djokovic is a legend of the game”: Petition to allow Novak for the US Open
Djokovic is also doubtful for the Cincinnati Masters and the Canadian Masters as the vaccination rule will again come into play for the two events cutting short his preparation even if he is allowed to play at the Grand Slam. The 2022 Abierto de Tenis Mifel in Mexico remains the only tournament where Novak could play in the month of August as the rest of the tournaments are in the USA and Canada.
Seeing the difficulty Novak is facing in entering the USA, one of his fans, Padma Rajan took to Change.org to start a petition asking the 3-time US Open champ be allowed to play at the Grand Slam this year given the unvaccinated American citizens can play but foreigners can’t.
“There is absolutely no reason at this stage of the pandemic that Djokovic should not be allowed to play at the 2022 US Open. The US government and the tennis federation must come together and allow him to play. If unvaccinated American players are eligible to play, so should Djokovic allowed, because he is a legend of that game. Tennis Federation, make it possible!” reads the synopsis for the Petition which has received more than 12,000 signatures with the target of 15,000 set currently.
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