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Vaccine zone: Djokovic remains in question for Aussie Open
Serbia's Novak Djokovic celebrates after defeating Britain's Cameron Norrie during their ATP World Tour Finals singles tennis match, at the Pala Alpitour in Turin, Friday, Nov. 19, 2021. Djokovic won 6-2, 6-1.(AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Vaccine zone: Djokovic remains in question for Aussie Open

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australian Open chief Craig Tiley confirmed on Saturday that everyone who attends the first Grand Slam tennis tournament of 2022 will need to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19, including all the players.

That continues to leave the status of defending champion Novak Djokovic in question. Djokovic, who has refused to say if he’s vaccinated, would be attempting to win a record 21st Grand Slam singles title and his 10th at Melbourne Park.

The tournament is scheduled for Jan. 17-30. The Victorian state government had earlier said only vaccinated persons would be allowed into the site for the tournament.

“Everyone on site, the fans, all the staff, the players, will need to be vaccinated,” Tiley said at the tournament’s official launch. “There’s been a lot of speculation about Novak’s position, he’s said it’s a private matter.

“We would love to see Novak here, but he knows he needs to be vaccinated in order to play. He’s always said that the Australian Open is the event that puts the wind in his sails.”

This year, the players were forced to undertake a 14-day quarantine period and travel back and forth from official hotels to the tournament site in sealed transport.

“It’s been made very clear, when the premier (Daniel Andrews) announced several weeks ago that in order to participate at the Australian Open, to come into Victoria, you’ll need to be fully vaccinated,” Tiley said earlier on a morning television program. “Immediately we communicated that to the playing group, it is the one direction that you take that is going to ensure everyone’s safety.”

Among the top male players, Tiley, who is the tournament director, said Rafael Nadal and Daniil Medvedev, who beat Djokovic in the final of the U.S. Open, preventing the Serbian player from completing a calendar-year Grand Slam, plan to be in Melbourne in January.

Roger Federer, who continues to recover from right knee surgery, has already said he won’t be coming. He, Nadal and Djokovic are all tied with 20 singles majors each.

Top-ranked Ash Barty of Australia will make another attempt to win her home major, and defending champion Naomi Osaka has also confirmed she’ll play, Tiley said.

Tiley said he’d been “on the phone” with Serena Williams in the past few days and Williams, who has 23 Grand Slam singles titles and needs one more to tie Margaret Court’s all-time record, is training and plans to play.

Tiley said there will be full crowds for the tournament, meaning Rod Laver Arena will return to its capacity of about 15,000, as will the other major show courts.

The second-week schedule has changed for January’s tournament, with both women’s singles semifinals to be played Thursday evening ahead of the Saturday night final.

The men’s singles semifinals will be split over the afternoon and evening session on Friday, with the final on Sunday night.

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More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports