Earlier in the year, he had an infamous scuffle with the Australian Border Authority who did not him into the country because of his unvaccinated status. John McEnroe is not urging the US government to relax its vaccine laws to allow Djokovic to play in the US Open.
However, Djokovic himself is uncertain if an exemption is doable.
“I’m not vaccinated and I’m not planning to get vaccinated so the only good news I can have is them removing the mandated green vaccine card to enter the United States, said Djokovic.
“I’ll wait hopefully for some good news from the US because I would really love to go there. That would be the next big tournament.”
“If that doesn’t happen, then I have to see what the schedule looks like. I will not burden myself to have to go and play tournaments and get points. I don’t feel I’m in a rush really anywhere to end my career in a years time or two years’ time or whatever. I want to keep my body healthy keep myself mentally sane and motivated to compete with the young guns.”
“Everything that has followed Australia, particularly in the tournaments, has been a huge challenge and obstacle for me to overcome emotionally. I just needed time to weather the storm.”
McEnroe commented on the laws in the US that do not allow unvaccinated people to enter. “These politicians are getting in the way too much - they did it in Australia,” he said.
“Let the guy come in and play in the US. I mean come on. This is ridiculous. You can agree to be tested. There’s got to be a way around this.”
Djokovic’s coach Goran Ivanisevic said that the tennis star’s experience in Australia was very emotional and would have forced any other player to retire. “It’s very emotional, said Ivanisevic. It was a s— year, a tough year. Being there in Australia for some people, they don’t recover. They will never play tennis. This was a big shock. It was a shock for me, and I was free. Imagine for him.”
“It’s really heroic. He’s a great champion. This is the result. This trophy, this joy on Centre Court. It’s so beautiful. Maybe Biden will change his mind. A lot of crazy things are happening in the world. Every day something is changing.”