Djokovic gets an all-clear for Australian Open 2022

Here is some good news for tennis fans in general and the fans of Novak Djokovic in particular. The ATP tennis world number one is all set to defend his title at the Australian Open 2022. Through a recent statement, Djokovic announced that he has got an exemption from Coved-19 vaccination, pending which his participation in the first Grandslam of the year was in jeopardy till now.

Australian Open is slated to take place between January 17 and January 30. Djokovic’s participation had been in doubt for a long time, as the Australian Tennis Association had made it mandatory for every player to take the Covid vaccination shots as a precondition for playing in the tournament. But for reasons, which are unclear even now, Djokovic had refused to make public his vaccination status. Presumably for some unspecified personal reasons. But now that he has made it clear that he will be participating in the Australian Open 2022 then at least one reason for speculation is taken care of.

Seeing Djokovic at the synthetic courts of the Australian Open is a good thing for Tennis. It is also his favorite court surface as he has been a champion here a total of 9 times.

The participation of the Serbian tennis legend assumes special importance as he is on the verge of creating tennis history. If he is able to defend his title successfully, which is very likely, given his form, he will be the first modern tennis player to win 21 grand slam titles. In the process, he will claim the title of GOAT (Greatest of all time) elbowing out fellow tennis legends Federer and Nadal.

In further Australian Open 2022 news, world number 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas has said that his participation in the tournament is doubtful owing to his elbow injury. In another worrying news, Russian tennis number 1 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova who is also now a world number 11, has tested positive for Covid-19 after arriving in Australia. With still a few days to go for the start of the tournament and Covid-19 on the surge in Australia and the world over, the tennis fans would be watching the news around the Australian Open with a lot of interest and folded hands.