Djokovic may miss Aussie Open 22 over vaccination

Some of the world’s leading tennis players look set to be forced into a choice between getting vaccinated against Covid or missing out on the next Grand Slam event.

In a move that could have profound implications for the Australian Open, the Victoria government announced that all professional athletes in the state must now be double jabbed by late November.

With new cases rising above 1,000 per day in Melbourne, it becomes very difficult to see how those from overseas will be exempted from the requirement by January.

Nine-times champion Novak Djokovic is believed to be among the many tennis players holding out against jabbed.

Figures at the US Open suggested that only around 60 per cent of players are fully vaccinated, with at least four members of the men’s top ten reckoned not to have taken that step.

Tennis Australia supremo Craig Tiley had previously signalled that restrictions will be considerably tougher for the non-jabbed.

However, the mandatory measure revealed by Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews suggests that it could be the difference between playing or not playing altogether.

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At the very least, those who have not been vaccinated look sure to be forced into 14 days total isolation upon their scheduled arrival over the Christmas period.

For Djokovic, who has expressed deep reservations about vaccines in the past, the Australian Open has become his banker tournament as he seeks to overtake Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal on twenty Grand Slam titles.