US Open: Djokovic is no longer in the list of participants

This Thursday at noon, New York time, 6:00 p.m. French time, the draw for the US Open will take place, the last round of the Grand Slam of the year. And this time, it’s almost certain, Novak Djokovic will not participate. The Serb has indeed seen his name removed from the list of participants on the official tournament website, a few hours before the draw. The organizers have not yet communicated on the subject, but this decision to withdraw his name follows the announcement of the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention), the agency of American health, to maintain the ban on American territory to people who have not been vaccinated against the coronavirus.

As in Australia in January, the Serb is therefore denied access to a Grand Slam tournament following his refusal to be vaccinated., the seven months that have passed since his controversial round trip to Melbourne have not made him change his mind. The man with 21 Majors has already missed the US tour in March and the North American tour in August for this reason, so he has only been able to play in seven tournaments this season, there where the non-vaccinated were accepted: Dubai (defeat in the quarterfinals), Monte-Carlo (defeat at the start), Belgrade (defeat in the final), Madrid (defeat in the semi-finals), Rome (victory), Roland-Garros ( defeat in quarters) and Wimbledon (victory).

Djokovic should lose places in the standings

In the absence of the injured Alexander Zverev and Novak Djokovic, the first eight seeds of the US Open will therefore be Daniil Medvedev, Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Casper Ruud, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Cameron Norrie and Hubert Hurkacz. The Serb, current world No. 6, will lose 1200 points from his final last year and should therefore lose a few more places. In the meantime, a lucky-loser will take his place in the US Open table in his place, the qualifications having started on Tuesday.