Tennis icon John McEnroe has slammed the US Covid vaccine rules which currently prevent Novak Djokovic from entering the country and playing the US Open.
The Serbian was ultimately denied the opportunity to compete at the Australian Open in January due to his decision to remain unvaccinated.
US immigration recently dropped the requirement for all incoming passengers to return a negative Covid test before boarding a plane, but maintained the need for proof of full vaccination to be presented on arrival.
“There are no plans to relax American immigration rules that require incoming travelers to have undergone vaccination for Covid," the Telegraph reported. This prompted McEnroe, a four-time winner of the American grand slam, to plead with those in power to reverse the decision.
"These politicians are getting in the way too much," McEnroe said following the Wimbledon final, which Djokovic won against Nick Kyrgios. "They did it in Australia. Let’s let the guy come in and play in the U.S. I mean come on. This is ridiculous. But I don’t make those decisions. I hope someone makes the right one and allows him to play. That’s my personal opinion.
"You can agree to be tested. I don’t know. There’s gotta be a way around this, but we’ll wait and see. That’s not what it’s about right now."
Ahead of Wimbledon, the new 21-time grand slam champion reaffirmed his stance against talking the coronavirus jab.
"As of today, I am not allowed to enter the states under these circumstances," the Serbian tennis star said, via Eurosport. "I am aware of that and that is an extra motivation to do well here, and hopefully I can have a very good tournament as I have done in the last three editions.
"Then I will just have to wait and see. I would love to go to the states. But, as of today, that is not possible. There is not much I can do anymore. It is up to the US government to make a decision whether or not they allow the unvaccinated people to go into the country."
Growing up in a household where soccer was king, my earliest memories are filled with chants from packed stadiums and the rhythm of a ball being passed across neighborhood streets. But somewhere along the way, the quiet elegance and raw emotion of tennis pulled me in. What began as a curiosity became a lifelong passion; not just for the sport itself, but for the stories it tells: of grit, of heartbreak, of improbable comebacks and human resilience.
As a tennis writer, I bring the observational lens of someone who didn’t grow up in the sport, but fell in love with it as an outsider; a perspective that lets me see both its technical beauty and its emotional depth. Over the years working with TennisUpToDate, I’ve had the privilege of reaching more than 3.5 million readers worldwide, with one of my features ranking among the site’s top three articles.
With a background in storytelling and a creative mind always searching for meaning beyond the scoreboard, I aim to craft narratives that go deeper than results and rankings. Whether it’s a rising star breaking through or a veteran fighting off Father Time, I try to capture the heartbeat behind the headlines.
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