French Sports Ministry’s new mandates might make Novak Djokovic miss out on French Open 2022
The decision of not getting vaccinated seems like the one that Novak Djokovic is going to regret for quite a while. The Serbian tennis star has recently been sent back to Serbia and will miss out on the Australian Open. Now, it looks like Djokovic will miss out on the French Open as well.
France has recently passed a vaccine law that restricts unvaccinated people to access public areas. The French Sports Ministry has doubled down on this and has stated that the rules will remain the same and there will no special exemptions, in a statement which read (h/t reuters):
“The rule is simple. The vaccine pass will be imposed, as soon as the law is promulgated, in establishments that were already subject to the health pass,” the ministry said. This will apply to everyone who is a spectator or a professional sportsperson. And this until further notice. Now, as far as Roland Garros is concerned, it’s in May. The situation may change between now and then and we hope that it will be more favourable. So we’ll see, but clearly there’s no exemption.”
While Novak Djokovic was still battling with the Australian Government, the French Sports Minister publicly welcomed the Serbian to play at the French Open without being vaccinated. It is interesting to see how Roxana Maracineanu has flipped from her statement and Djokovic will most likely miss out on the Roland Garros as well if the situation doesn’t change.
During an interview with ESPN, Maracineanu said:
“He would not follow the same organisational arrangements as those who are vaccinated. But he will nonetheless be able to compete [at Roland Garros] because the protocols, the health bubble, allows it.”
The fans will certainly like to see Djokovic compete for his 21st Grand Slam. However, nothing can be said with certainty. With the threat of missing out on French Open looming over Djokovic’s head, it remains to be seen how the situation unfolds in the upcoming weeks.
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