Novak Djokovic likely to miss US Open because he’s ‘not planning to get vaccinated’ against COVID-19

Novak Djokovic won his seventh career Wimbledon title on Sunday, but it doesn’t sound like he will be taking that momentum into tennis’ next Grand Slam. Djokovic stated after the win that he likely will not get the COVID-19 vaccination ahead of September’s US Open.

Currently, Djokovic can’t enter the United States unless he gets vaccinated against COVID-19 or receives a medical exemption.

“I’m not vaccinated and I’m not planning to get vaccinated so the only good news I can have is them removing the mandated green vaccine card or whatever you call it to enter United States or exemption,” Djokovic said. “I don’t know. I don’t think exemption is realistically possible. If that is possibility, I don’t know what exemption would be about.

“I don’t know. I don’t have much answers there.”

Djokovic defeated Nick Kyrgios 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 on Sunday to capture his fourth consecutive Wimbledon title. The 35-year-old star lost to Rafael Nadal in the 2022 French Open quarterfinal and, before that, wasn’t able to compete in the Australian Open due to being deported from the country upon his arrival as a result of his vaccination status.

With no plans to do what it takes to be able to compete in the US Open, which begins on Aug. 29, Djokovic revealed that he isn’t sure when he’ll play competitive tennis next.

“I am on vacation,” Djokovic said. “Whether or not I’m playing any tournament soon, I’ll definitely be resting for the next couple weeks because it has been quite an exhausting and demanding period for me the last few months. A lot of tennis, which I was very happy about. I got what I wanted here.