Novak Djokovic held a press conference on Wednesday in Belgrade to cover a wide range of topics, but mainly to discuss his upcoming schedule. The top-ranked Serb will play next week at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. He also hopes to make appearances at upcoming Masters 1000 events in Indian Wells and Miami.
That doesn’t seem likely, however. United States government officials announced last month that the country will end its emergency Covid-19 measures on May 11. On that date unvaccinated foreigners will be able to travel to the USA–which means Djokovic can freely enter the country later this year and participate in the U.S. Open beginning in late August. But unless something changes in the next two weeks or the 35-year-old is granted an exemption, he won’t be in Indian Wells or Miami.
“Everything is currently in the process,” Djokovic said. “I have a big desire to be [at the two Masters 1000s]. I am really thankful to the Indian Wells and Miami tournament [officials] and community for their support publicly, and they would like me to be able to play in their tournaments.”
Indian Wells tournament director Tommy Haas recently expressed his desire to welcome Djokovic to the desert.
“It would be nice to see if we could maybe lift those a little earlier and have him come to play Indian Wells and Miami,” Haas commented. “I think he wants to play, so we should give him the chance. Hopefully we can have him there.”
As it stands now, Djokovic’s last tournament prior to the clay-court swing will be Dubai. The Serb confirmed that the hamstring issue that briefly troubled him during his run to the Australian Open title is no longer a problem, so he is good to go for next week’s 500. The Dubai field also features Andrey Rublev, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Hubert Hurkacz, Daniil Medvedev, and Andy Murray.
probably too late now
So he called a presser to talk about nothing? Seinfeld’s got nothing on him!
Have you actually checked his presser, how do you know what was he talking about, just by reading Ricky’s extract?!
He called a presser to answer various broad questions in Serbian and for his fans in Serbia, he was talking about lot of topics and at lent, next time before you open your mouth and try to be smarta$$ check the subject you are talking about.
Since you are such avid Nole follower and to educate you, I’ll do you a favour and post a link for Nole’s presser, it includes 20 minutes practise session at his tennis centre in Belgrade and immediately after organised presser on court, 20 minutes answering Serbian reporters questions and last 10 minutes answering foreigners questions, enjoy it:
https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/watch-live-novak-djokovic-trains-130419667.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS5hdS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAGD1AfLkhgNnG_IAk7j_KHpY6fgEJ_02ejuiwJL6ToN3BVcB-0viJBgUh6Rq_AHeKM669jXkfLQlrg0oNSNB5yWP7BOXRhjI4spDK0wL6k31ZGi1CyEIAZlEMgpNdn8BfL6rbvMBgw-StGIVh0dLXnQ-_55QyU_seY_OC7FgLkhc
There would be no reason to worry about a ban during the US Open for Novak. If I recall, the no Indian Wells/Miami question is about when the prohibition will be lifted in May or June, and it’s silly not to allow him to play in March and April. Tommy Haas could call/text Governor Gavin Newsome, and all would be fine, I’m guessing. He played and won the AO without any harm to anyone.