Big hint that world No 1 Novak Djokovic will compete at the 2022 Australian Open

Australian Open
Novak Djokovic with the Australian Open trophy

The will he or won’t he play at the Australian Open saga involving Novak Djokovic took another twist on Tuesday after the world No 1 was included in the Serbia squad for the ATP Cup.

On the back of Tennis Australia and Australian Open organisers confirming that only fully vaccinated players will be allowed to compete at the season-opening Grand Slam, Djokovic has been non-committal about his participation.

The world No 1 has refused to make his vaccination status public while his father Srdjan even went as far as saying that he doubts his son would defend his title at Melbourne Park as he lashed out at the “blackmails and conditions”.

However, there was a big indicator on Tuesday that he might well travel to Australia next year as he was named in Serbia’s squad for the ATP Cup.

The tournament is a warm-up event for the Australian Open and, although the same vaccination policy has not been adopted for the New South Wales competition, it does suggest he will fly to Australia for the hard-court major.

If unvaccinated ahead of the ATP Cup, Djokovic will have to receive an exception from the New South Wales government and he will have to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival in Sydney.

The 20-time Grand Slam winner is set to headline the Serbia team, which reached the semi-final of the recently concluded Davis Cup, which will face Norway, Chile and Spain in the group stage.

Novak Djokovic

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