"Disgrace" - Tommy Haas on Djokovic possibly not being allowed entry in the US

| by Evita Mueller

Novak Djokovic missed multiple events last year due to his unvaccinated status and that might happen against this year.

He is still unvaccinated, and the US is still adamant about not allowing unvaccinated people to enter the country. They extended its travel ban for additional months in response to a recent spike in cases brought on by a new strain of the virus.

The extended date moves past the Indian Wells and the Miami Open meaning that Djokovic won't be able to play either. Tommy Haas, the Indian Wells tournament director called it a 'disgrace'.

If Djokovic stays healthy, I don't see how he's not going to be number one. Obviously, the one problem being that he still cannot come to the U.S. If he doesn't play Indian Wells and Miami in March (it will be tough), they're supposed to lift those mandates by mid-April.

Haas on the ban
Retired Ash Barty to return to tennis courts during special event at Australian Open
Retired Ash Barty to return to tennis courts during special event at Australian Open

Haas is still holding out hope that the ban will be lifted before those events so that Djokovic can enter the country and play them. He's certain that he would love to play them and it would be a disgrace if he wouldn't.

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. I think he wants to play, so we should give him the chance. Hopefully, we can have him there. I mean, it would be a disgrace in my eyes if he wasn't coming to these events, or not allowed to come.

Haas on the Indian Wells and Miami
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"I wanted them to get money out of tennis, but it's different world today" - Richard Williams on raising Serena & Venus

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