The world’s number one tennis player was set to make a major return to the court this year after being banned from the US tournaments for not being vaccinated.
But finally, the organizers of the tournaments have decided to keep the Serbian tennis player out for not being vaccinated against the coronavirus.
The organizers for the Indian Wells tournament, the first Masters 1000 of the season, did not provide details about the reason for the withdrawal. Still, Djokovic’s participation in the tournament was practically impossible, as he did not comply with the rules of the United States pandemic to enter the country.
The tennis player hoped to be able to receive an exception from the US authorities, but in the end, it did not happen.
Djokovic will miss Indian Wells for the fourth
consecutive year. On the other hand, his participation in the Miami Open, to be held from March 19 to April 2, is also expected to be complicated.
But Novak already has a plan B to keep up and said: “If there’s no America, I guess I’ll play clay. Monte Carlo is probably the next tournament. If that’s the case, I’ll take some time off; I’ll prepare. Clay, as we’ve said, is the most demanding surface. It takes time more than any other surface to prepare for.”
The Monte Carlo Masters takes place between April 8 and 16, so it could be over a month before Djokovic is back in competitive action.
He could lose the No.1 position in the ranking
By not participating in the USA Novak tournaments, he could lose the No.1 position in the ranking to Carlos Alcaraz, who arrives with everything served on a silver platter.
He was a semifinalist in Indian Wells in 2022, and Rafael Nadal will not participate in this edition either. Alcaraz was also champion at the Miami Open.
Except for a worsening of his hamstring injury in his right leg, Carlos Alcaraz has everything to return to being No.1 in the ranking.
His coach Antonio Martínez Cascales, in statements to Eurosport, said, “The diagnosis of the resonance they did in Acapulco was a strained hamstring. The recovery to be playing again is between 7 and 10 days, with which he will arrive at Indian Wells, although a little tight.”
“Carlitos is fine, he knows that these things sometimes happen in tennis, but it is always difficult to stop when you really want to play. In addition, he came after several accumulated games, so you have even more enthusiasm to continue playing, but sometimes these things happen.”
“The truth is that playing in Acapulco was very hasty, both because of the change of track, as well as coming from Rio so often, there was hardly even time to do a training session. Even if he had played, he should have taken it with a grain of salt, being extremely careful on the return to the hard court and with no other aspirations than the simple fact of training, although you never know afterward”.
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