CNN
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The world’s prime males’s tennis participant Novak Djokovic will miss the Miami Open subsequent week, after being denied entry to america as a result of he’s unvaccinated in opposition to Covid-19, event director James Blake introduced on Friday.
America nonetheless requires worldwide guests to be vaccinated in opposition to Covid-19, and the Serbian, who has beforehand confirmed that he stays unvaccinated, had utilized for particular permission to enter the nation forward of the event.
“We tried to get Novak Djokovic to be allowed to get an exemption, however that wasn’t in a position to occur,” Blake mentioned in an interview with the Tennis Channel.
“Clearly, we’re one of many premier tournaments on the planet, we’d prefer to have one of the best gamers that may play. We did all that we might. We tried to speak to the federal government, however that’s out of our palms.”
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis mentioned earlier this month he would “run a ship from the Bahamas” for Djokovic to compete within the Miami Open tennis event.
DeSantis known as on US President Joe Biden to drop the vaccine requirement for worldwide vacationers so the 22-time grand slam champion would have the ability to compete.
The 35-year-old Djokovic has missed a number of different tournaments due to his vaccination standing. Earlier this month, Djokovic withdrew from the continuing BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells in California because of being denied the exemption. Final 12 months, he missed Indian Wells, the Miami Open and all of the tournaments included within the US Open swing.
The Miami Open’s essential draw play begins March 22 and and the event ends April 2.