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Unvaccinated Tennis Champ Novak Djokovic Won’t Play U.S. Open Due To Travel Restrictions

Tennis champ Novak Djokovic won’t play at the upcoming U.S. Open after refusing to comply with United States restrictions requiring Covid vaccinations for foreign travelers.

Djokovic, who has steadfastly refused to get vaccinated, announced the news on Twitter today. “Sadly, I will not be able to travel to NY this time for US Open,” he wrote. “Thank you #NoleFam for your messages of love and support. Good luck to my fellow players! I’ll keep in good shape and positive spirit and wait for an opportunity to compete again. See you soon tennis world!”

The Open begins on Monday at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, Queens, NY. and runs through Sept. 11. This year’s draw for the tournament is happening today.

According to reports, Djokovic has had Covid at least twice, but maintains that vaccination should not be mandated.

In a statement to press, U.S. Open tournament director Stacey Allaster said, “Novak is a great champion and it is very unfortunate that he will be unable to compete at the 2022 US Open, as he is unable to enter the country due to the federal government’s vaccination policy for non-U.S. citizens. We look forward to welcoming Novak back at the 2023 US Open.…

Sports / Tennis

Rafael Nadal: ‘I hope to be able to devote more time to it than…’

Flash Entertainment CEO John Lickrish revealed that he has a good relationship with Rafael Nadal and that the Spaniard once wanted to give him his Richard Mille watch. Flash Entertainment owns the Mubadala World Tennis Championships and Lickrish has once in the past praised Nadal’s jacket and asked if he could have it.

Nadal was a bit surprised by the request, but that started his good relationship. “I’ve been doing this trick to him every year, try anyway,” Lickrish told The National. “The last time I did it with his Richard Mille watch.

I was like, ‘that’s a great watch’ and he was like, ‘yeah you know it’s super light’ I like I wish I had that one and he actually took it off and handed it to me (Lickrish didn’t take it). He would have taken the jacket for me if he had given it to me, really”.

Emma Raducanu and Bencic were expected to meet in the only women’s match at this year’s Mubadala World Tennis Championships. Raducanu tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday and is out of the Mubadala World Tennis Championships.

Lickrish revealed that the plan is to bring more women to the event in the future. “From the beginning we looked at it and thought, ‘how do we get women into the tournament?’ There have been a few different proposals internally that we’ve looked at, also through bringing in a women-only tournament,” Lickrish said.

“I always thought it would be better to combine the two things. First of all, it’s really what we’re doing with the budgets that we have, we’ve decided, and through some of our partners, we’re able to attract women.

I didn’t want to make it unique, I didn’t want to make it corny.

Rafa intends to continue being active

Speaking a bit more about the mental aspect of the sport during the interview, Rafael Nadal philosophized how players sometimes have to fight themselves in addition to their opponents as well.

“All elite sports are complicated and tennis especially being a one-on-one …

Sports / Tennis

Rafael Nadal beats Taylor Fritz in epic five-setter to seal Nick Kyrgios semifinal clash

Rafael Nadal battled injury problems to come from behind twice to reach the Wimbledon semifinals as he beat American Taylor Fritz 3-6 7-5 3-6 7-5 7-6 (10-4) in an epic final set tie-breaker.

Nadal’s quest for a Calendar Grand Slam and a record 23rd major was in serious doubt when he required a medical timeout to treat an abominable issue in the second set. He admitted in his post-match interview he considered throwing in the towel but after four hours and 20 minutes on court the 36-year-old somehow came through it.

Channelling the same mentality that saw him come from two sets down to beat Daniil Medvedev to win the Australian Open back in January, Nadal found his rhythm in the latter stages of the match and saved his best til last in a crucial final set tie-break. A dejected 11th seed Fritz departed Centre Court to huge cheers as he missed out on a first Grand Slam semifinal appearance. Instead, it’ll be Nadal who takes on Aussie livewire Nick Kyrgios, who sailed through his quarterfinal in straight sets against Cristian Garin.

Rafael Nadal vs. Taylor Fritz result

1 2 3 4 5
Rafael Nadal (2) 3 7 3 7 7 (10)
Taylor Fritz (11) 6 5 6 5 6 (4)
…
Sports / Tennis

Novak Djokovic fights back from two sets down to beat Jannik Sinner in Wimbledon quarter-final

Novak Djokovic is a man made for five-set tennis. Only once out of 11 five-setters at the All England Club has he been a loser and that was back in 2006 to Mario Ancic. This incredible win also meant Djokovic pulled back a two-set deficit for the seventh time in a grand-slam match.

It may have been five years since the Serb has been defeated at Wimbledon and he has stretched his winning streak to 26 with this quarter-final victory, but it was not made easy for the six-time champion as he lost the two opening sets to the 20-year-old Italian Jannik Sinner. Djokovic did not look himself as he missed multiple drop shots in those two sets, but he maintained his habit of being a master of the marathon as he set up a semi-final with Britain’s Cameron Norrie.

Some may argue that the status quo prevails in the men’s game but Djokovic did look fallible and given how young Sinner is and the fight he put up, this is surely a positive sign for a player in his first Wimbledon quarter-final and another name to add to the list of young male grand slam challengers of the future.

Djokovic was frank in his assessment of both how he will be received by a partisan crowd when he takes on Norrie and the gulf in experience that exists between the world No  3 and No  12.

“Playing here in Wimbledon on Centre Court semi-finals of a slam in his country, of course I know what to expect, you know, in terms of the crowd support,” Djokovic said. “For him, [he has] not much to lose. Every victory from now onwards is a big deal for him. I know that.”

Djokovic moved comfortably on the grass in the opening games of the match and the defending champion moved 4-1 up, but Sinner – buoyed by the cheers of “Andiamo” [here we go] and, of course, his own determination and talent – began to find his natural game and …

Sports / Tennis

Lorenzo Sonego admits he was not happy with Rafael Nadal action during their match

Italian tennis player Lorenzo Sonego said Rafael Nadal distracted him with his action and added the Spaniard should have had a word with the chair umpire if he was having some issues. After Sonego broke back Nadal in the eighth game of the third set to tie the set to four games apiece, Nadal went to the net and called Sonego for a quick chat.

Once the match continued, Sonego got broken back in the ninth game as Nadal served out for a 6-1 6–2 6-4 victory in the 10th game. “A player should not call his opponent on the net. You cannot do that at Wimbledon.

Nadal should have just had a word with the umpire. He distracted me,” Sonego said after the match.

Nadal apologized to Sonego

After the match, Nadal went to Sonego in the locker room to apologize. Also, Nadal admitted he was wrong in his decision to call Sonego to the net in the middle of action.

“Well, first of all, I have to say that I was wrong,” Nadal said. “I should not call him to the net. So apologize for that. My mistake in that. No problem. I recognize that. “Then after that, all the stuff during the match that I don’t want to comment, because is something that I spoke with him in the locker room and it stays there.

Only thing I can say is I saw him personally. I apologize for that. My intention was never to bother him at all. Just to tell one thing that was bothering me that I think he was doing
in that moment, but that’s it. I think there is some codes between players.

Yeah, we had some issues there. But that’s it”. Even though Nadal didn’t publicly disclose what was the reason for his decision to call Sonego to the net, many suspected that the reason for that was the Italian’s grunt.…

Sports / Tennis

Andy Murray knocked out of Wimbledon by big-serving John Isner

Andy Murray was blown away by big-serving American John Isner in four sets as his Wimbledon campaign ended in a blur of aces.

Two-time champion Murray failed to reach the third round for the first time as 6ft 10in missile launcher Isner secured a first career victory over him at the ninth attempt.

Murray threatened another of his epic, late-night comebacks from two sets down when he won a third-set tie-break.

But this time he was unable dip into that seemingly endless well of reserves as Isner clung on for a 6-4 7-6 (4) 6-7 (3) 6-4 victory.

Isner, at 37 two years older than his opponent, crashed down 36 aces among 60 unreturned serves to leave Murray in a daze.

In fact the Scot managed to win only 15 points against the relentless Isner first serve.

But there was so much more to the 20th seed’s victory, with a host of neat drop shots and deft touches at the net leaving Centre Court stunned.

Murray’s serve needed to be firing as well, but too often in the early stages he gave Isner a look at his second attempt, and it was a searing return which was too hot for the home favourite as he was broken in the third game.

It was only the second time Isner had broken the Murray serve in 25 sets of tennis over the last 12 years.

The second set whizzed by with neither player laying a glove on the other, but Isner drew first blood in the tie-break and when Murray got a solitary chance to retrieve the damage he dumped a simple pass into the net.

On set point Murray actually did well to get a racket on the 136mph rocket, but the return floated wide and Isner had a 2-0 lead.

In the inevitable third-set tie-break errors from Isner crept in for the first time, a long forehand and a volley into the net giving Murray the initiative and the fired-up former champion jumped wildly in delight as he halved the …

Sports / Tennis

‘Rafael Nadal moved in front, and it was all gone,’ top-10 star recalls

Beating Rafael Nadal is never easy, especially when he finds the rhythm in the opening games. Andrey Rublev had a chance to experience that in their 2020 ATP Finals clash, losing 6-3, 6-4 in an hour and 17 minutes. The Russian had a breakthrough run that year, winning the Tour-leading five ATP titles and scoring 41 victories in a reduced season.

The Moscow native cracked the top-10 and secured the ATP Finals debut thanks to three consecutive ATP 500 titles after the season’s restart and back-to-back Major quarter-finals in New York and Paris! Eager to show his best tennis on the big scene, Andrey played his first ATP Finals match against the 20-time Major champion Rafael Nadal and suffered a 6-3, 6-4 loss in under 80 minutes.

Rublev admitted he dealt with massive pressure against his idol, eager to show his best tennis but failing to hide emotions and turn them into more reliable tennis. The Russian felt to bring the desired level against Rafa, struggling in every segment, especially on the return.

Nadal had the upper hand from start to finish, losing 12 points in ten service games and never experiencing trouble. Returning Andrey’s serves aggressively, Rafa grabbed a single break in each set to claim the 19th ATP Finals victory and make the campaign’s strong start.

The more experienced player hit 16 winners and 11 unforced errors, leaving the Russian with 19 winners and 23 mistakes.

Rublev knew he had to control his emotions to stand a chance vs. Rafael Nadal.

Andrey failed to return almost 40% of Rafa’s serves and sprayed too many errors in attempts to impose his strokes and move the opponent from the comfort zone.

Nadal had a significant 44-28 lead in the shortest rallies up to four strokes, determined to stay aggressive and return Rublev’s second serves from inside the court. The encounter kicked off with five commanding holds on both sides before Rafa moved 4-2 up following Andrey’s forehand error.

A service winner sent Nadal 5-2 in front, and he landed three …

Sports / Tennis

Stan Wawrinka relishes ‘special’ challenge against Djokovic in Rome

Three-times major champion Stan Wawrinka said that playing Novak Djokovic is always special but added that he may not quite be ready to face a player of the world number one’s quality following his return from long-term injury.

The 37-year-old, who did not play for an entire year after undergoing two surgeries for a foot injury, battled past Laslo Dere 7-6(8) 3-6 6-4 to set up a 26th career meeting with Djokovic in the last-16 of the Italian Open on Thursday.

“It’s not the best prize, but it’s always special to play against him,” said Wawrinka, who has won his last two matches against the Serbian.

“I’m not where I want to be yet with my game, with my fitness level, with my mental (game). I need those matches, so to have a chance to play against the best player, it’s going to be really difficult for me, that’s for sure.”

Wawrinka’s victory over 14th seed Reilly Opelka in Rome earlier this week was his first in 15 months and the Swiss said he had a long way to go before regaining full fitness.

“I’m not ready to compete I think at that level, but it’s what I need. I need those challenges. I need to push myself as much as I can to keep improving.”

Djokovic, who defeated Aslan Karatsev in his opening match, is looking for his sixth title on the clay in Rome and first this season.…