Novak Djokovic pulls out of the Miami Open as he denied US entry over COVID vaccine policy

World No. 1 male tennis player Novak Djokovic will not play in the ATP tournament Miami Open in Florida, USA, the organizers confirmed on Saturday.

Also Read: ATP & WTA Rankings: Most number of weeks as World No.1 Tennis Player

Novak Djokovic has not got the corona vaccine, due to which he is not getting entry in America. Earlier, Djokovic had also withdrawn his name from Indian Wells in California. The Serbian star also missed Australia Open and US Open last year. At the beginning of last year, Novak Djokovic had to go back midway through the Australia Open due to lack of a certificate for the Corona vaccine. He could not even play the US Open because of not taking the vaccine.

According to American policies, a person is not given entry in the US without getting the corona vaccine. Novak Djokovic requested US authorities to grant him special access, but his request was denied. The Miami Open will start from March 21 to April 2.

Miami Open tournament director James Blake said, "We tried to get Novak Djokovic to be allowed to get an exemption, but that wasn't able to happen. Obviously, we're one of the premier tournaments in the world, we'd like to have the best players that can play. We did all that we could. We tried to talk to the government, but that's out of our hands."

Also Read: Tennis Facts: Longest winning streaks in Tennis history

Novak Djokovic is in joint with Rafael Nadal with 22 Grand Slam titles as the tennis player with the most Grand Slam wins. After these two, Roger Federer is at number two after winning 20 Grand Slams. However, Djokovic suffered his first defeat of the season last week. Daniil Medvedev defeated him in straight sets in the semi-finals of the Dubai Open.

Along with Novak Djokovic, Sebastian Korda also pulled out of this year's edition of the Miami Masters. Korda injured his wrist during his quarterfinal match against Karen Khachanov at the Australian Open. In their stead, Daniel Elahi Galan and Denis Kudla have entered the main draw.