The corona vaccination and Novak Djokovic (35), the topic never ends.
From Monday, the Serb wants to defend his title in Wimbledon and has to play against the South Korean Soon-Woo Kwon (24). It will probably be his second and last Grand Slam tournament this year.
After the former number 1 was expelled from Australia in January and was not allowed to play the Australian Open because she was not vaccinated, she is not allowed to enter the USA as of today. The end for the US Open (August 29th to September 11th).
Djokovic: “It’s true, as of today, I’m not allowed to enter the States under these circumstances. Yes, I am aware of that. But that is an additional motivation to do well in Wimbledon.
Due to his self-inflicted non-participation in the Australia Open and the fact that there are no world ranking points in Wimbledon because the excluded Russians and Belarusians would otherwise be disadvantaged, Djokovic loses a whopping 4,000 points from his two victories in 2021. There would also be 1,200 the final in New York, which he lost to the current number 1, Daniil Medvedev (26/Russia). He would probably drop out of the top 10.
“World ranking points are not important to me. Of course they are, but not the way they used to be. Now I’m not chasing the ranking like I used to when I was #1 most weeks. Since I achieved that, the points are no longer so important to me,” said the 20-time Grand Slam winner.
Says so and surrenders to his fate. “I would like to fly to the States. But to date this is not possible. I can’t do much anymore. It is up to the US government to decide whether or not to allow unvaccinated people into the country,” he says.
Foto: Getty Images
” data-zoom-src=”https://bilder.bild.de/fotos/novak-djokovic-l–mit-seiner-trainer-goran-ivanisevic-in-wimbledon-0ba751e5cd57429590fcdd32235c7168-80512214/Bild/2.bild .jpg”/> Novak Djokovic (left) with his coach Goran Ivanisevic at WimbledonFoto: Getty Images
And she doesn’t do that. So Djokovic is out for the second time this year because he’s not vaccinated. In this respect, his statement that he can no longer do much is nonsense. If he gets vaccinated, the six-time Wimbledon winner can play.
He cannot understand why Russians and Belarusians are excluded from Wimbledon. Djokovic: “I’m a child of war myself. I was too young, but many Serbian athletes were banned from the sports world in 1992-1996. That affected her life. Many ended their careers because of it.” In the early to mid-1990s, a civil war raged in former Yugoslavia; at that time Serbia was the aggressor.
Foto: Getty Images
” data-zoom-src=”https://bilder.bild.de/fotos/sechsmal-gewann-novak-djokovic-in-wimbledon-dieses-jahr-soll-der-siebte-streich-fallen-f89f8207aeba44408ae99ac6842613b7-80512220/ image/2.image.jpg”/> Novak Djokovic has won Wimbledon six times. The seventh prank is to follow this yearFoto: Getty Images
“I cannot say that I agree with banning Russian and Belarusian players indefinitely. I just don’t see how they contributed to anything that’s happening. I don’t think it’s fair,” he says.
In most sports, except for Wimbledon and tennis, athletes from Russia and Belarus are allowed to start without national symbols such as flags and anthems. “I think they would accept that compromise. You deserve to compete. They are professionals. None of them supported any war or anything like that,” explains Djokovic.
