Players arrive for Australian Open with Novak Djokovic yet to confirm vaccine decision

Tennis: Djokovic slams critics after Australian Open win

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The first crop of tennis players have arrived in Australia ahead of the 2022 season. World No 14 Denis Shapovalov is among those who have already landed Down Under before next month’s Australian Open, with more expected to arrive as early as Monday. It comes as Novak Djokovic is running out of time to confirm his vaccine decision, as the world No 1 has previously ruled out revealing his vaccination status despite the jab being mandatory for all players in Australia.

The 2022 tennis season kicks off on New Year’s Day with the ATP Cup, as a host of extra ATP and WTA tournaments begin on January 3, all in the lead-up to the season-opening Grand Slam.

The Australian Open will be taking place in its usual calendar slot from January 17, after the tournament was delayed to February earlier this year due to the pandemic.

And with more than a week to go until the first events of the season, two players have already landed Down Under to begin their preparations.

Former world No 12 Borna Coric was reportedly the first player to touch down in Australia, with Denis Shapovalov joining him on Thursday.

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Coric, a former Shanghai Masters finalist, has seen his ranking drop to world No 73 after undergoing a shoulder surgery in May, and will be making his return in Australia.

Meanwhile, Shapovalov arrives in the country after competing in last week’s Mubadala World Tennis Championship.

The Canadian defeated Taylor Fritz in the Abu Dhabi exhibition before narrowly losing his semi-final to Andrey Rublev, but defeated Rafael Nadal – in the Spaniard’s first tournament after injury layoff – in the third-place play-off.

He has now come straight to Australia, and the pair will be joined by more players on Monday.

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Three-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep is among the next set of arrivals due to touch down early next week.

Matteo Barrettini and Ajla Tomljanovic – the ATP No 7 and WTA No 45 couple – and Casper Ruud will also join on Monday, after the Norwegian was forced out of the Mubadala exhibition last week after testing positive for Covid.

All players competing in Australia next month must be fully vaccinated, but one name is still noticeably absent from the list of arrivals – the world No 1.

Novak Djokovic has been a doubt for the Australian Open since the vaccine mandate was announced, as the nine-time champion refuses to disclose his vaccination status.

The 20-time Grand Slam champion has put his name on the entry list but is yet to confirm whether he has received the Covid vaccine, as time runs out for Djokovic to make a decision.

There were reports that the 34-year-old was looking to get a medical exemption to play the tournament, allowing him more freedoms than unvaccinated members of the public in Australia, but government officials including the Prime Minister shut this down.

But in an official Australian Open update on Wednesday, tournament director Craig Tiley confirmed that a small number of players would receive medical exemptions, appearing to hint that Djokovic could be one.

“If Novak shows up at the Australian Open, he’ll either be vaccinated or he’ll have a medical exemption,” the Tennis Australia boss said.

“[It’s] his choice on his medical condition, it’s his choice to keep personal and private like all of us would do with any condition we may or may not have. We are not going to force him or ask him to disclose that.”

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