Novak Djokovic, first in the Professional Tennis Association (ATP) rankings, has been selected for the Serbian squad for the ATP Cup, which opens the season in Sydney in January, organizers said on Tuesday (December 7th). after many questions about his coming to Australia.
The player, winner of twenty Grand Slam tournaments, had cast doubt on his participation in the Australian Open in January, refusing to say if he was vaccinated, a condition imposed for any entry into the country.
In the press release announcing the draw for the ATP Cup, Djokovic is included in the list of five players presented by Serbia. This competition between sixteen nations will take place from 1er to January 9, as the curtain rises for the tennis season, ahead of the Grand Slam tournament in Melbourne (January 17-30).
After his team’s defeat in the Davis Cup last week, the 34-year-old Serb promised an upcoming decision on his participation in the Australian Open, whose organizers had confirmed that no exemption from the vaccination requirement would would be made. The player’s father said on Serbian TV last month that his son “Probably wouldn’t play” in Australia “under these conditions”, evoking a ” blackmail “.
Novak Djokovic contracted Covid-19 without showing symptoms in June 2020 during the Adria Tour, a tournament he was organizing in the Balkan peninsula. Rafael Nadal, also winner of twenty Grand Slam tournaments, is not part of the Spanish squad, after suggesting last month that he would take part in an exhibition in Abu Dhabi and then another tournament before arriving in Melbourne for the Australian Open. The only other absent among the twenty best players in the world is the Swiss Roger Federer, injured.
