It seems that World no. 1 Novak Djokovic will not be participating in the 2023 Miami Open after he wasn't able to get an exemption.
Despite tremendous efforts from both the tournament organizers and the local government, Djokovic was unable to secure an exemption to compete in the prestigious event which is part of a Sunshine Double with Indian Wells, from which he also had to pull out.
In a talk with the Tennis Channel, Miami Open tournament director James Blake announced the unfortunate news that Novak Djokovic won't compete and confirmed that they 'exhausted all the options'.
“Obviously, we’re one of the premier tournaments in the world, we’d like to have the best players that can play. We did all that we could. We tried to talk to the government, but that’s out of our hands."
In his interview, Blake highlighted the parallels between Djokovic's Miami Open situation and the recent Indian Wells tournament, where tournament director Tommy Haas also made significant efforts to enable Djokovic's participation.
However, the outcome remained unchanged, as Djokovic was unable to secure an exemption in either case. The same is expected to happen for the Miami Open, as the Serbian star likely won't be enter to travel to the tournament.
“Same result that he had in Indian Wells, where I know [fellow tournament director] Tommy Haas did as much as he could. We tried to get Novak Djokovic to be allowed to get an exemption, but that wasn't able to happen."
Blake expressed his disappointment at the situation. The tournament director emphasized that they had exhausted every option to try and accommodate Djokovic, even engaging in talks with the government, but ultimately, the decision was out of their control.
“We’d love to have him, and he’s our greatest champion. Unfortunately, that’s way above my pay grade.”
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