CNN
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World number one men’s tennis player Novak Djokovic will miss next week’s Miami Open after being denied entry to the United States because he is unvaccinated against Covid-19, tournament director James Blake announced on Friday.
The US still requires international visitors to be vaccinated against Covid-19 and the Serbian, who has previously confirmed he remains unvaccinated, had applied for special permission to enter the country ahead of the tournament.
“We tried to get Novak Djokovic to be allowed to get a waiver, but it wasn’t able to happen,” Blake said in an interview with the Tennis Channel.
“Of course we are one of the leading tournaments in the world, we want to have the best players who can play. We did everything we could. We tried to talk to the government, but it’s out of our hands.”
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said earlier this month that he would “drive a boat from the Bahamas” for Djokovic to compete in the Miami Open tennis tournament.
DeSantis urged US President Joe Biden to drop the vaccine requirement for international travelers so the 22-time grand slam champion would be able to compete.
The 35-year-old Djokovic has missed several other tournaments due to his vaccination status. Earlier this month, Djokovic withdrew from the ongoing BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells in California due to being denied the exemption. Last year, he missed Indian Wells, the Miami Open and all the tournaments included in the US Open swing.
The Miami Open main draw starts on March 22nd and the tournament ends on April 2nd.
