{"id":285486,"date":"2021-11-30T19:20:54","date_gmt":"2021-11-30T19:20:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/breaking-news\/defending-champ-djokovic-to-skip-australian-tennis-open-due-to-vax-mandate.html"},"modified":"2021-11-30T19:20:54","modified_gmt":"2021-11-30T19:20:54","slug":"defending-champ-djokovic-to-skip-australian-tennis-open-due-to-vax-mandate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/breaking-news\/defending-champ-djokovic-to-skip-australian-tennis-open-due-to-vax-mandate.html","title":{"rendered":"Defending champ Djokovic to skip Australian tennis Open due to Vax mandate"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 class=\"title\">Defending champ Djokovic to skip Australian tennis Open due to Vax mandate<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"\">\n            <span>\u0093It is the personal right of each of us whether we will be vaccinated or not,\u0094 Djokovic Sr said in a TV interview<\/span>        <\/figure>\n<p>World tennis Number One and defending champion Novak Djokovic will not play the 2022 edition of the Australian Open in response to the vaccination requirement against COVID-19 imposed by local authorities and organizers.<\/p>\n<p>Srdjan Djokovic, father of the Serbian star, Monday said Tennis Australia\u2019s stance was tantamount to \u0093blackmail,\u0094 as he announced his son&#8217;s decision not to abide by such a requirement, but left the door open to a change of mind if the decision is reversed.<\/p>\n<p>Organizers of the year\u2019s first Grand Slam have said that all players will have to be vaccinated to take part. The world&#8217;s top player has so far declined to disclose whether he is vaccinated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs far as vaccines and non-vaccines are concerned, it is the personal right of each of us whether we will be vaccinated or not. No one has the right to enter into our intimacy,\u201d Srdjan Djokovic was quoted as saying.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnder these blackmails and conditions&#8230; I wouldn\u2019t [play]. And he\u2019s my son, so you decide for yourself,\u201d Djokovic Sr told reporters.<\/p>\n<p>Novak Djokovic has won nine Grand Slam titles at Melbourne Park, including this year\u2019s edition, and shares the record of 20 men\u2019s Grand Slam titles with Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal.<\/p>\n<p>Nadal has confirmed he will play at Melbourne Park in January but Federer will miss the tournament as he recovers from another knee surgery.<\/p>\n<p>The Australian Open begins on January 17th.<\/p>\n<p>Craig Telay, director of the Australian Open, announced days ago that players who did not receive the Covid-19 vaccine will not be able to play the tournament scheduled for January 17-30 in Melbourne.<\/p>\n<p>\u0093I would like him to play with all my heart because he is an athlete\u0094, Djokovic Sr insisted.<\/p>\n<p>According to press reports, 85% of professional tennis players have been vaccinated, while public and staff must also be immunized in order to attend the tournament.<\/p>\n<p>Article source: https:\/\/en.mercopress.com\/2021\/11\/30\/defending-champ-djokovic-to-skip-australian-tennis-open-due-to-vax-mandate?utm_source=feed&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_content=international&amp;utm_campaign=rss<\/a>\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Defending champ Djokovic to skip Australian tennis Open due to Vax mandate \u0093It is the personal right of each of us whether we will be vaccinated or not,\u0094 Djokovic Sr said in a TV interview World tennis Number One and defending champion Novak Djokovic will not play the 2022 edition of the Australian Open in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[13],"class_list":["post-285486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285486\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}