World number one Novak Djokovic has been selected for the Serbian squad for the ATP Cup which will open the tennis season in Sydney in January, organizers said on Tuesday, after many questions about his coming to Australia.
The winner of 20 Grand Slam tournaments had cast doubt on his participation in the Australian Open in January, refusing to say if he was vaccinated, a condition imposed for any entry into the country.
In the press release announcing the draw for the ATP Cup, Djokovic is included in the list of five players presented by Serbia.
This competition between sixteen nations will take place from January 1 to 9 as the curtain rises of the tennis season, ahead of the Grand Slam tournament in Melbourne (January 17-30).
After his side’s Davis Cup defeat last week, the 34-year-old Serb promised a decision “very soon” on his participation in the Australian Open, which organizers had confirmed no exemptions from. vaccine obligation would not be made.
The player’s father said on Serbian TV last month that his son “probably wouldn’t play ‘in Australia’ under these conditions, with this blackmail, and when it’s done that way.”
Djokovic contracted Covid-19 without showing symptoms in June 2020 during the Adria Tour tournament he was organizing in the Balkan peninsula.
Rafael Nadal, also winner of 20 Grand Slam tournaments, is not part of the Spanish squad, after suggesting last month that he would take part in an exhibition in Abu Dhabi and then another tournament before arriving in Melbourne for the Australian Open.
The only other absent among the top 20 players in the world is the injured Swiss Roger Federer.
Defending champions Russia will again be led by Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev.
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