Australian Open 2022: Novak Djokovic receives COVID-19 vaccine exemption to take part in tournament

Novak Djokovic is not vaccinated against COVID-19, but will play in the Australian Open. The tennis star announced on Tuesday that she had successfully received a medical exemption that would allow her to defend her Australian Open title. It happened after the Australian Open organizers announced it in November all competitors must be vaccinated against COVID-19 or receive a medical exemption.

“I’ve had a wonderful quality time with my loved ones and I’m going Down Under today with an exceptional permit. Let’s go to 2022!” Djokovic Posted on Twitter.

Victorian government has released a statement on the tournament’s exemption policy and said it has a “two-phase independent process” to verify that a player has “a real state of health that meets the criteria for exemption.” Clearly, Djokovic decided to do it.

No further information will be released on the situation that led to Djokovic’s exclusion from the COVID-19 vaccine, “because the personal information of any applicant has been deleted to ensure the independence of the process.”

Djokovic is looking for his 21st Grand Slam title and is currently tied with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal for most of the Grand Slam titles in men’s history. Nadal will then take part in the Australian Open has recently been positive for COVID-19. Federer will not attend the event because he is recovering from knee surgery.

After debating whether Djokovic would be allowed to play in the tournament, he now has a chance to make history at the Australian Open, a nine-time winning event. He will try to win for the tenth time when the action starts on January 17th.