Wimbledon Champion Novak Djokovic has been given a major boost ahead of the clay court season after the French government lifted its requirement for all players to be vaccinated against Covid-19 to compete. The announcement means Djokovic will be able to defend his French Open title at Roland Garros in May.
The Serb was forced to miss the Australian Open in January after they rejected his vaccination exemption. Djokovic, who is believed to be unvaccinated against Covid-19, has since maintained his stance and claimed he was willing to miss future Grand Slams rather than receive the vaccine. However, it seems that he will now avoid that dilemma and will be able to compete at Roland Garros & Wimbledon with both tournaments deciding not to implement vaccination rules.
Djokovic was recently replaced by Daniil Medvedev as World No 1 and will be hoping to reclaim top spot if he is now able to play at more ATP ranking tournaments. He is currently unable to compete in the United States, which means he will miss the ‘fifth major’ at the BNP Paribas Open which starts at Indian Wells next week. It looks likely that his next event will be the Monte Carlo Masters in April.
It was been a roller-coaster period for the 20-time Grand Slam Champion after being deported from Melbourne and being forced to miss the Australian Open. He also parted company with his long-time coach Marian Vajda this week. The pair have been together since 2006 when Djokovic was a teenager. They briefly split in 2017 for one year but got back together and enjoyed great success together. Djokovic has confirmed that the rest of his team will remain the same, which includes former Wimbledon Champion Goran Ivanisevic.