Door ajar for anti-vaxxer Djokovic to defend his Oz Open crown
VACCINATION requirements for tennis players this summer are “not settled yet,” despite a leaked email suggesting unvaccinated players would be allowed to enter Melbourne for January’s Australian Open sparking a furious reaction.
The email, sent by the WTA Players’ Council to players on Sunday, sought to clarify what it called “false and misleading information” around travel to Australia and restrictions for unvaccinated people.
It suggested unvaccinated players would be allowed to travel to Australia and do two weeks in quarantine before being allowed to play.
That could open the door for world No.1 Novak Djokovic, who has refused to reveal his vaccination status, but seemed to fly in the face of strong comments made by government officials last week.
Both Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and federal Immigration Minister Alex Hawke said Australia’s borders would not be open to unvaccinated people.
“Our health advice is that when we open the borders everyone that comes to Australia will have to be double vaccinated,“Hawke said last week.
A mandate for all authorised workers in Victoria to be double vaccinated also applies to professional sportspeople.
But in response, Victorian Major Events Minister Martin Pakula said the vaccination requirements for tennis players this summer were “not settled yet”.
“We are still resolving with Tennis Australia and the Commonwealth whether unvaccinated foreign nationals will be allowed into Australia at all and, if so, under what circumstances they will be allowed,” he told 3AW.
But the new information leaves the door open for Djokovic to head to Australia for the January tournament, albeit doing 14 days quarantine if he’s not vaccinated.
Tennis Australia is yet to confirm the rules for the Open.