Djokovic withdraws from Indian Wells
Florida senators call for Biden to give Serbian vaccine waiver
Organizers of the upcoming ATP tournament in Indian Wells, Calif., announced Sunday evening that Novak Djokovic has withdrawn.
The world No. 1, a native of Serbia who is not vaccinated against the coronavirus, has been unable to enter the United States. Djokovic said last month that he hoped to be granted an exemption by U.S. authorities so that he can play at Indian Wells and then later in March in Miami, but Sunday’s development served as another indication that his efforts in that regard have not succeeded.
On Friday, Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said on Twitter that the Department of Homeland Security had just denied Djokovic his request for a vaccine waiver. Scott shared a letter he and Sen. Marco Rubio, R.-Fla., sent to President Biden that day in which they urged Biden to “promptly grant” the waiver to Djokovic.
Noting that Biden had said in September that “the pandemic is over,” the senators wrote that Djokovic is “a world-class athlete in peak physical condition who is not at high-risk of severe complications from COVID-19.”
“It seems both illogical and misaligned with the opinions of your own administration to not grant him the waiver he requests so that he may travel to the U.S. to compete in a professional event,” the senators said in their letter. “The lack of public health risk, along with the clear benefit of his participation in an event that will be a major driver for our local economies should make the decision before you simple and serve as a precedent for others in his position, while hopefully leading to the full reversal of this mandate for other foreign visitors who wish to legally travel to our great nation.”
Djokovic, whose unvaccinated status left him unable to play in last year’s U.S. Open, “shouldn’t be prohibited from playing in the Miami Open because of unconstitutional vaccine mandates,” Rubio tweeted Friday.
Biden said in January that he will end the national coronavirus emergency declaration on May 11, which would allow unvaccinated foreigners to enter the country. By then, the men’s tennis tour will have spent weeks centered in Europe, with a series of clay court tournaments leading into the French Open.
Djokovic, 35, is coming off his first loss of the season, a defeat by Daniil Medvedev in the semifinals of the Dubai Open that dropped the Serb’s record in 2023 to 15-1.
Earlier this year, Djokovic won the Australian Open for his 22nd Grand Slam singles title, tying a men’s record set by Rafael Nadal. Last month, Djokovic set a record for men and women with the 378th week in his career that he entered ranked No. 1 in the world.
Among Djokovic’s 93 career ATP titles are five triumphs at Indian Wells, most recently in 2016. With him out of the tournament, tournament officials said that Nikoloz Basilashvili, a 31-year-old Georgian ranked 118th in the world, moved into the field.