The Australian Open has started and Novak Djokovic is in Dubai. Novak got deported from Australia on Sunday, and he was replaced in the draw by a lucky loser (meaning, someone who lost in qualifying). What would have been his half of the draw has obviously opened up a lot, and there will be some very interesting quarterfinalists, probably. ESPN’s coverage has already been the absolute worst on Day 1 of AO – while exciting first-round matches were being played in real time, ESPN gave John McEnroe about 20 minutes to loudly pontificate about how the Djokovic situation was all political and how he (McEnroe) texted Djokovic to tell him that it was all “BS.”

Meanwhile, there’s already a focus on what kind of year Djokovic will have if he remains unvaccinated. He will likely be able to play some ATP-level events in Europe, although (as I said yesterday), I have serious doubts that he will be able to come into America unvaccinated. He’s an unvaccinated foreign national – America likely will not give him a visa to enter the country to play Indian Wells and Miami. The next Slam is Roland Garros, aka the French Open. During Djokovic’s Australian mess, the French sports minister made a point of coming out and saying that they will allow unvaccinated players to come to Paris for RG. Except that as soon as Djokovic was deported, suddenly French health officials were like “wait, that’s actually a terrible idea.”

Novak Djokovic was still on his way home from Australia when another obstacle was put in his path in the form of a tightening of regulations in France towards the unvaccinated.

He is unlikely to play the big ATP tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami in March unless he changes his stance because of the USA’s tight restrictions, and on Sunday French sports minister Roxana Maracineanu performed an about-turn by saying sportspeople will need to be vaccinated to compete in the country.

Maracineau last week defended the idea of bubbles for unvaccinated athletes but on Sunday reversed that position after the passing of stricter measures in the French parliament, putting Djokovic’s defence of his French Open title in danger.

There appears no prospect of the British government following suit but it is not inconceivable that Wimbledon could be the only grand slam tournament where Djokovic competes in 2022.

His deportation also carries an automatic three-year ban from Australia, although it can be waived if there are deemed to be compelling reasons.

Much can still change ahead of the summer, of course, and Gilles Moretton, the president of the French Tennis Federation, told l’Equipe: “Our teams are working in collaboration with the public authorities, who will specify in due course the rules relating to the reception of unvaccinated foreign athletes for our tournament.”

[From The Independent]

It’s not weird to me that the French health and sports ministries are talking about a strict vaccine mandate. What was strange was the sports minister talking about welcoming unvaccinated athletes into the country during the same newscycle as French President Emmanuel Macron talking about how he’s hellbent on pissing off unvaccinated people. Macron is taking a hardline on vaccinations (as he should!!) and I would imagine that would include stricter vaccine rules for foreign nationals entering the country to play at RG too. All that being said, RG is months away. A lot can change. And Novak should get vaccinated.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red.