US association rejects criticism that it did not care about Novak Djokovic
The US Tennis Association has declared itself on the case of Novak Djokovic.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Aug 27, 2022, 10:01 pm
In an interview with the French sports newspaper L'Équipe , US player Tennys Sandgren said that the US tennis association had not done enough to obtain an exemption for Novak Djokovic so that he could enter the USA without a corona vaccination.
The USTA has now denied these allegations.
The exemptions in 2022 would differ from those in 2020 and 2021, it said to a request from tennismajors.com . "USTA has been in regular contact with several departments of the US federal government, including the Departments of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Control and the Department of State," the statement said. "In all cases, we have been informed that the US government is no longer considering third-party requests for national interest exemptions."
Only exemptions made by the individual concerned would be reviewed by the relevant department or authorities for the entry of unvaccinated non-US citizens.
Novak Djokovic: No second Australia chaos in the USA
Djokovic had hoped until the very end that US entry regulations would be relaxed and only withdrew his entry for the US Open on Thursday . Unvaccinated non-US citizens are still not allowed to enter the US.
Djokovic will miss his second Grand Slam tournament this year after the Australian Open.
He had entered Melbourne on an exemption from the state of Victoria, but this was not in line with the regulations for entry into Australia itself.
Djokovic was then expelled from the country after a long back and forth and two court cases.