First Australia, now France?
Tennis star Novak Djokovic could be barred from playing at the French Open after lawmakers backed a law requiring anyone wanting to enter sports arenas and other public venues to have been vaccinated against coronavirus. Djokovic is not vaccinated.
As soon as the vaccine pass plan officially becomes law, its use will be “compulsory to enter public venues … for all spectators, practitioners, French or foreign professionals,” French Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu tweeted Sunday.
Djokovic should not expect to play “if he does not respect a rule that applies to the spectators, that will apply to the ball boys, to the professionals who will work and run a shop at Roland-Garros,” former Interior Minister Christophe Castaner told RMC radio on Monday.
“What kind of world would we be in if we considered that because we are a star, we could deviate from the rule?” Castaner said, adding that the tournament organizers have agreed to comply with France’s COVID-19 vaccine guidelines.
The French Open is the next grand slam tennis event and runs from late May into June.
On Sunday, Djokovic lost a final legal bid against his deportation from Australia.
A panel of three judges ruled unanimously in favor of the Australian government, which had canceled Djokovic’s visa on public health grounds, meaning the Serbian star is out of the Australian Open, a tournament he has won nine times.