London: Novak Djokovic will be allowed to defend his title at Wimbledon, despite not being vaccinated against Covid-19. This is because the shots are not required to enter Britain, All England Club chief executive Sally Bolton said Tuesday. The 34-year-old Novak Djokovic, missed the Australian Open in January after being deported from that country. The Australian government decided to deport him as he had not taken vaccination against Covid-19.
During the annual spring briefing ahead of Wimbledon, which starts June 27, Bolton said that ‘whilst, of course, it is encouraged’ that all players get vaccinated, ‘it will not be a condition of entry to compete’ at the grass-court Grand Slam tournament this year.
Djokovic, in addition to being unable to defend his championship at Melbourne Park after an 11-day legal saga over whether he could remain in Australia, had to sit out tournaments at Indian Wells and Miami because he couldn’t travel to the United States as a foreigner who is unvaccinated.
The US Tennis Association has said that it will follow whatever governmental rules are in place regarding Covid-19 vaccination status when the US Open is held in late August.
Djokovic – who has said he got Covid-19 twice, once each in 2020 and 2021 – owns 20 Grand Slam singles titles, tied with Roger Federer for the second-most for a man. They trail Rafael Nadal, who won his 21st at the Australian Open.
Six of Djokovic’s trophies came at Wimbledon including victories each of the past three times the tournament was held in 2018, 2019 and 2021. It was not held in 2020 because of the pandemic.