"We should respect his choice" says Ons Jabeur on Novak Djokovic

His status is still unclear as the Serbian is awaiting a final court decision that should come on Sunday but it's hard to argue against the point that all of this could have been avoided had he simply gotten vaccinated. After all, many contemporary colleagues did it despite a sizeable amount of them being reluctant to do it.

Rumours from Melbourne are suggesting that there is a certain unease in locker rooms amongst other tennis players over the situation. Ons Jabeur was asked about and she said:

“I feel like some players they blame him for coming, some players they don’t. I feel like we should respect his choice that he didn’t want to get vaccinated. If they didn’t want him to come, why did you give the exemption and everything? So, I feel like it’s tough what’s happening to him or to anybody; it’s a very, very tough situation."

She further said:

" hope it’s not political as people are saying. I feel like he’s going for a historical run this season, especially at the Australian Open, and he saw an opportunity to get an exemption so he took it, and you cannot blame him for that really."

Jabeur also symphatised with Voracova who was already deported:

“But I kind of feel for the Czech player, Renata Voracova, who got deported. It is really unfair that you deport her and for example he comes and plays. And I think the WTA or ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) should speak about this because it’s really, really not fair."