{"id":615163,"date":"2023-03-07T07:49:34","date_gmt":"2023-03-07T13:49:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sellorbuyhomefast.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/07\/novak-djokovic-denied-u-s-entry-ahead-of-indian-wells-senator-says\/"},"modified":"2023-03-07T07:49:34","modified_gmt":"2023-03-07T13:49:34","slug":"novak-djokovic-denied-u-s-entry-ahead-of-indian-wells-senator-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/07\/novak-djokovic-denied-u-s-entry-ahead-of-indian-wells-senator-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Novak Djokovic \u2018Denied\u2019 U.S. Entry Ahead Of Indian Wells, Senator Says"},"content":{"rendered":"
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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 10: Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates winning match point to defeat … [+]<\/span> Alexander Zverev of Germany during their Men\u2019s Singles semifinal match on Day Twelve of the 2021 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 10, 2021 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/fbs-accordion>Getty Images<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Novak Djokovic, who is unvaccinated against Covid-19, withdrew from this week\u2019s tournament at Indian Wells after being denied entry to the United States, the tournament announced Sunday night.<\/p>\n

He also won\u2019t be permitted to play in the Miami Open later this month because unvaccinated foreigners are not allowed to fly into the U.S.<\/p>\n

Florida Sen. Rick Scott wrote on social media on Friday that Homeland Security turned down the world No. 1’s vaccine waiver request and then asked that President Joe Biden intervene in the situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cNovak\u2019s situation is obviously frustrating for us,\u201d Tommy Haas, the Indian Wells tournament director, told Matt Futterman of The New York Times <\/a> before Djokovic withdrew<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want the best tennis player in the world to be here. H\u2019s writing me, he wants to be here. So of course, you\u2019re like, OK, let\u2019s try to make this happen. How can we figure this out that\u2019s going to be realistic? But at the end of the day, unfortunately, that\u2019s not in our hands and that\u2019s what\u2019s frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Georgian player Nikoloz Basilashvili has taken Djokovic\u2019s place in the draw.<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters on Friday after his defeat against Daniil Medvedev in Dubai, the <\/a>Australian Open<\/a> champion said<\/a> he was \u201cstill waiting for the news from America.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cIf there\u2019s no America, I guess I\u2019ll play clay. Monte Carlo is probably the next tournament. If that\u2019s the case, I\u2019ll take some time off, I\u2019ll prepare.\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Geoff Freeman issued the following statement on the news.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmerica\u2019s outdated vaccine policy for international visitors is an unforced error that is contributing to an $80 billion loss in foreign traveler spending,\u201d he said. \u201cNovak Djokovic is merely one of millions deterred from visiting the United States due to a well-intended but antiquated policy. It is well past time for the United States to join with its peers in Europe, Australia and elsewhere and remove pandemic vaccine requirements for our inbound travelers.\u201d<\/p>\n

John McEnroe said last month<\/a> it would be \u201cabsurd\u201d if Djokovic wasn\u2019t granted an exemption to play in the U.S.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be absurd if he couldn\u2019t play Indian Wells or Miami or any other tournament in the U.S.,\u201d McEnroe, the seven-time Grand Slam singles champion and ESPN analyst, said on a conference call in response to a question from this reporter.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s absurd they threw him out of Australia last year,\u201d he added. \u201cI have had my vaccines, I respect that he\u2019s chosen not to do it. I would\u2019ve done it, but that\u2019s a whole other issue….He played [the U.S. Open] in 2021 and then wasn\u2019t allowed to play in 2022, someone explain that to me. And now he\u2019s still not permitted to play, I mean it\u2019s absurd.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patrick McEnroe, also an ESPN analyst and the former U.S. Davis Cup captain, said he hopes Djokovic is permitted to play the \u201cSunshine Swing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope he does get an exemption,\u201d he said. \u201cI hope he can get into the country to play. I mean, I\u2019m no doctor or no expert but it does seem like we\u2019re past most of the pandemic, knock on wood.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s able to go to any other country to play at this point and my understanding is that the President [Biden] has announced that many of these regulations<\/a> will be withdrawn I believe in May. Whether or not Novak\u2019s able to gt the exemption before that is up in the air.\u201d<\/p>\n

Djokovic won his record-tying 22nd Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January and is now tied with is longtime rival Rafael Nadal, who will also miss Indian Wells and Miami due to a leg injury<\/a>. The two will each seek their 23rd major title at Roland Garros in May, providing Nadal is healthy enough to defend his title and seek a 15th French Open crown.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a historic time in our sport obviously, him at Rafa both at 22, it\u2019s pretty interesting, if you ask me,\u201d McEnroe said of Djokovic missing the upcoming events. \u201cSo it would be a damn shame.\u201d<\/p>\n

(This story was updated on March 6.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>
\n Adam Zagoria<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 10: Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates winning match point to defeat … [+] Alexander Zverev of Germany during their Men\u2019s Singles semifinal match on Day Twelve of the 2021 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 10, 2021 in the Flushing neighborhood of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":615164,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31274,35741],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-615163","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-djokovic","8":"category-novak"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=615163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615163\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/615164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=615163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=615163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}