Mathieu WARNIER, Media365, published on Wednesday, October 27, 2021 at 9:55 a.m.
Despite the hopes recently fueled by the WTA, the State of Victoria affirmed via its Prime Minister that it was excluded from seeing unvaccinated players enter its territory for the Australian Open.
It is a cold snap that Daniel Andrews threw on the Australian Open 2022. For several days, the question of the presence of unvaccinated players for the first Grand Slam of next season has arisen and opposing views multiply. Recently, the WTA contacted its players to clarify the modalities of entry into Australia at the beginning of the year 2022. Via an email, the management body of the women’s professional circuit had suggested that the vaccinated players could enter without restriction on Australian territory while those who have not received an injection should respect a strict quarantine of fourteen days. A protocol announced similar to that put in place for the 2021 edition of the tournament organized in Melbourne. Secondly, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison assured that this would be in place if the State of Victoria allowed the entry of unvaccinated players.
Unvaccinated, Djokovic could be forced to give up
However, the Prime Minister of the State of Victoria has recently been very clear and does not intend to grant the slightest privilege to tennis professionals in view of the Australian Open 2022. “We exclude unvaccinated people pubs, cafes, restaurants and the Melbourne Cricket Ground but also all kinds of other events, Daniel Andrews told reporters. We will not ask for an exemption. Therefore, the question is fundamentally resolved. This means that, if the Australian government opens the door to players who have not had recourse to vaccination, the State of Victoria intends to take advantage of the regulations specific to the current health crisis to prohibit the entry of these last in its territory. In other words, it will indeed not be possible to take part in the next Australian Open in the absence of vaccination. Strict measures to avoid a relaunch of the epidemic which could force some headliners refusing injections, such as Novak Djokovic, to defend their chances in Melbourne next January.
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