Novak Djokovic will be free to defend his Wimbledon title after the All England Club confirmed Covid vaccinations will not be needed to compete in this year’s Championships.
There are no plans for any coronavirus restrictions this time after two disrupted years of the London Grand Slam.
Twenty-time Slam winner Djokovic, who has made clear he is not vaccinated against the virus, was barred from playing at the Australian Open back in January and booted out of the country by the Government.
Djokovic, 34, will also be able to compete at the French Open after organisers in Paris dropped all Covid restrictions.
The Serbian has won the Wimbledon men’s singles title six times, including last year when he defeated Italian Matteo Berretini in straight sets.
The 2020 Wimbledon Championships was cancelled amid the pandemic, while the 2021 edition took place in front of restricted crowds up until the semi-finals.
This year’s tournament will take place between June 27 and July 10.
Novak Djokovic will be able to defend his Wimbledon title after the All England Club announced there will be no Covid restrictions at this year’s Championships
The unvaccinated Djokovic was booted out of Australia ahead of the Australian Open earlier this year amid tight coronavirus restrictions
Speaking at Wimbledon’s spring briefing, chief executive Sally Bolton said: ‘As you will be aware, the requirements set out by government to enter the UK do not include mandatory vaccination and, therefore, while of course it is encouraged, it will not be a conditional entry to compete at the Championships this year.’
Bolton added: ‘We are planning to return to a normal Championships this year. And so we don’t intend to implement any of the Covid-19 measures that we saw last year in any substantial fashion.
‘But we are, of course, keeping it on our radar in case we need to take further action when we continue to engage with DCMS, public health officials and with other sports.
‘But this means that…
Source : dailymail
