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Novak Djokovic (Image Source: Twitter)
Novak Djokovic, the Serbian legend, has officially withdrawn from the Cincinnati Open citing vaccine mandate reasons. The Serbian Tennis star, earlier, said that he’ll never get vaccinated and added that he’ll pay the price for it. Djokovic last participated in Cincinnati Open in the year 2020 and won the tournament as well.
The Serbian also missed the Canadian Open due to vaccine mandates. However, the US government eased the rules and regulations pertaining to Covid-19 and said that it won’t discriminate between vaccinated and unvaccinated people. This gives the Belgrade-born an opportunity to try his hand at the US Open.
Djokovic missed both the tournaments last year due to injuries. However, this year, he had to miss out because of vaccine mandate. The star also missed the Australian Open 2022, earlier, this year due to a legal tussle with the Australian Government. The US Government has now revised its guidelines giving a ray of hope for the world number five.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the agency under the US government put an end to many Covid restrictions. Djokovic had earlier requested the US government to relax the mandate so that he can participate in the US Open. And it might be possible for the Serbian to participate in the US Open this year.
Djokovic won his first ever Cincinnati title in the year 2018. The Belgrade star faced his rival Roger Federer in 2018 final. Djokovic came back to clinch the Cincinnati Open title for the second time in the year 2020. He defeated Milos Raonic to bag the title for the second time. Earlier, he had lost the first five finals at the Masters 1000 event in Ohio prior to 2018.
However, the Belgrade-born will have to wait for a while if he needs to participate in the Cincinnati Open and the Canadian Open. And it looks like the star might end up not participating in the two tournaments in future if the mandate is not relaxed. He will have his eyes set on the US Open that’ll begin in a few weeks from now.