Will Covid restrict the best player in US Open?
 

I watched some of Wimbledon the last week and the men’s winner was Novak Djokovic, a great player - perhaps the best ever.

But. He may very well be banned from playing at the upcoming US Open tournament. Solely because he does not want to be Covid vaccinated. Solely.

I find this to be outrageous. So year 2000 and 2021. If the US Open officials do maintain this stand, WTF?

Wimbeldon did ban Russian players, so be it to condemn Russia’s actions. But if Novak’s possible ban is held for him here what a stupid decision. IMO

I could care less!

Actually, grammatically, it’s I couldn’t care less. Thanks for letting us know that.

The problems in professional tennis are many and varied at this point, but mainly both the ATP and the WTA are victims of their own virtue-signaling--and when it comes to COVID, what better arena to demonstrate one's virtue. It isn't new, by the way: Novak Djokovic was banned from last year's US Open as well as well as this year's Australian Open, by the State of New York in the first case and by the government of Australia in the other. The ATP didn't lift a finger to help in either case; Djokovic had COVID and recovered nearly a year ago now, so you'd think that the ATP would have tried to do something to get the world's #1 player into those tournaments. But Djokovic has time and again been at odds with the ATP on issues, and as the world's #1 player he has tremendous influence--something the tight little world of professional tennis doesn't like at all.

The Australian debacle was particularly interesting because of political ramifications. Novak Djokovic had applied for an exemption to play in the Australian open, which was granted by the government, but that exemption was overruled at the last minute (while Djokovic's airplane was enroute to Australia, actually) and was taken into custody at the airport as soon as he landed. Speculation was that the overrule was facilitated by a disgruntled faction in the government. Novak Djokovic is pretty much the national hero of Serbia and has tremendous influence. He spoke out against a proposed copper mine in Serbia by Australian mining interests because of environmental concerns, which may have been the driving force behind the cancellation of his exemption. There were huge demonstrations in Serbia over this and the Serbian government got involved as well.

It promises to get messier. Because the Russians were banned from competing at Wimbledon, the ATP and WTA decided that the tournament would be exhibition only: the prize money was still there but there would be no points (the method by which professional tennis players achieve their rankings) awarded. At this point, should the ban on Djokovic participating in the U.S. Open continue, I wouldn't be surprised if that tournament was downgraded to "exhibition" as well.

Maybe they actually meant they COULD care less, but aren't going to...

Covid will not restrict his ability to play, his refusal to get vaccinated will.

Maybe it is the player that is restricting their participation by not obeying the rules of the organization they want to play in. Just saying, I don't recall any law saying we have a right to play Tennis.

I couldn't care less.

But, apparently, you could care less, unless you made a grammatical error, and meant to say that you also couldn't care less, like me.

Remember the 2022 Australian Open? A reference point.

I agree. Suppose we spent billions of dollars developing a vaccine, and everyone refused to take it?

Djokovic played in last year’s US Open. He lost in the finals.

I believe the city of New York required athletes to be vaccinated. However, this requirement was waived for baseball players. A few of the Yankees and Mets are not vaccinated. A waiver could be granted for Djokovic, but doubt it will be.

Cared enough to post. :BigApplause:

We? They just printed more money. Nobody paid for it yet.

Navak is not the only professional athlete that has refused the "temporary vaccination". Please recall what occurred with Aaron Rodgers as well.