Tennis: very few medical exemptions at the Australian Open

MELBOURNE, Australia – Only “a small percentage” of people unvaccinated against COVID-19 will be eligible for medical exemptions to compete at the Australian Open, tournament boss Craig Tiley said on Wednesday.

No player has yet presented an exemption to the organizers, added Craig Tiley, however, and therefore not the world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who makes no secret of his reluctance towards vaccination and refuses whether he received the injections.

“If Novak comes to the Australian Open, it’s either because he’s vaccinated or has a medical exemption,” said Craig Tiley.

On Saturday, he reiterated that all players should be vaccinated for the Grand Slam tournament scheduled for January 17 to 30 in Melbourne.

Last month, the state of Victoria, where Melbourne is located, had already ruled out granting a special exemption to unvaccinated players so that they could participate in the tournament.

“Medical exemptions are only medical exemptions, they are not a means of circumventing these rules for privileged tennis players,” said Deputy Prime Minister of the State, James Merlino, joining the position of the Australian Federation of tennis.

Rumors around a potential exemption for Djokovic are a sensitive topic in Melbourne, where the drastic coronavirus elimination policy has made residents endure a long period of confinement.

Especially since the Russian player Natalia Vikhlyantseva announced Monday that she was withdrawing from Melbourne, Australia not recognizing the Sputnik V vaccine she received.

Rafael Nadal, who said Monday that he tested positive after the Abu Dhabi tournament, should be handed over in time to compete in the Australian Open, said Craig Tiley.

“Players who test positive now are going to have to wait until they are no longer contagious, and that will be fine,” he said.

Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic, Tunisian Ons Jabeur and Briton Emma Raducanu have also announced that they tested positive after the tournament in the Emirates.

The 2022 edition of the Australian Open will already have many absences. Superstars Serena Williams and Roger Federer are injured, as are Jennifer Brady, Karolina Pliskova, Bianca Andreescu and Karolina Muchova. Dominic Thiem is uncertain.