Australia Open Mandates COVID Vaccine For All Players

20 Nov, 2021 17:17 IST|Sakshi Post

Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley declared on Saturday (November 20) that players who participate in the tournament must be vaccinated against Covid-19, placing more pressure on world number one Novak Djokovic, who has refused to reveal whether he has been vaccinated.

The tournament will take place in Melbourne in January. The city has been under lockdown for more than 260 days owing to the epidemic, and the state of Victoria's administration made it clear last month that no accommodations will be made for unvaccinated players.

Tiley stated that the playing group understands the need to get the jab in order to compete at Melbourne Park. "There's a lot of speculation regarding vaccinations, and just to be clear, when the (Victoria) premier said that everyone on site needed to be vaccinated, we made that plain to the playing group," he said.

"Everyone in the playing group is aware of it. Our patrons will need to be vaccinated, and everyone working at the Australian Open will need to be vaccinated."

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Tiley stated that the Serbian superstar, who will compete in Melbourne for a record 21st Grand Slam singles championship, "has stated that he regards this as a private matter for him."  We'd love to have Novak here. He is aware that he will need to get immunised in order to play here, "he continued.

Djokovic stated earlier this month that he would wait for official confirmation from Tennis Australia on the conditions before making a choice.

On the eve of the Paris Masters, he remarked, "I'll decide whether to travel to Australia when I see an official announcement from Tennis Australia."

Only 50% of players were completely vaccinated six weeks ago, but that number jumped to 80% following the Victoria government's declaration, according to Tiley, who added that it was "continuing to track towards 100%."

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