Indian Wells – With the men’s competition at the Indian Wells tennis tournament about to kick off, it remains unclear whether Novak Djokovic will play in the Masters 1000 event.
Djokovic, who declared in a BBC interview in mid-February that he still had not been vaccinated against the corona virus, is in the table for the top-seeded event and is seeded number two. After a bye in the first round, the 34-year-old Serb would face the winner of Australia’s Jordan Thompson’s clash with Belgium’s David Goffin in the second round.
“Novak Djokovic is on the list of participants for the tournament and therefore he is also in the tableau,” a terse statement from the organisers said. Former world number two Tommy Haas is tournament director at Indian Wells. “We are currently in communication with his team,” it added. It was still unclear whether Djokovic had been granted an exemption to enter the US, it said.
Djokovic had been expelled from the country at the beginning of the year shortly before the start of the Australian Open and had therefore not been able to defend his title in Melbourne. The long-time world number one had travelled to Australia on the assumption that he had an exemption for entry. However, a federal court had decided otherwise. Djokovic has played his only tournament so far this year in Dubai. There, only a negative PCR test was required for participation, but no vaccination against the coronavirus.