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Tuesday, April 16, 2024

Australian Open deadline looming for Djokovic

Nine-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic will need to show his vaccination hand within weeks while all of the leading women, including titleholder Naomi Osaka, have committed to the January tournament.

Speaking at the Australian Open launch on Saturday, tournament boss Craig Tiley said there had been “no pushback” from international players about being double vaccinated to play.

He said vaccination rates among players had jumped from 50 per cent to 80 per cent in the last six weeks.

The status of Djokovic remains unclear though and Tiley said the world No.1 understood he needed to be double vaccinated to play.

“We have been speaking to Novak and his team and they understand clearly that in order to come and play in the Australian Open they need to be fully vaccinated,” Tiley said.

“They know that it’s a condition for everyone, not just the players, but the fans and all the staff and he had indicated that it’s a private decision for him and at the right time he will tell us.

“I know that he wants to play, he’s clearly indicated that and he knows the conditions that he would have to undergo in order to be eligible to play.”

Tiley said international players were currently going through the travel visa process with the Federal government while entry for the Open closes in December.

“Entry in here will be determined by around early to the middle of December on the entry deadline,” Tiley said. 

“So you’ll know when a player’s entered an event … so in the next couple of weeks you will have really good indication of where everyone’s at because at that point there’s an official list of who’s going to be here.”

Tiley said he had spoken this week with seven-time champion Serena Williams, who confirmed she will play.

Crowds will return to full capacity for the 2022 edition after fans this year were banned for five days due to a snap lockdown and limited through the event.

AAP

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