Indian Wells tournament director Tommy Haas says he is “very disappointed” over Novak Djokovic missing the opening Masters tournament of the season in the desert. After the Australian Open, Djokovic requested to be granted a special permission to enter the United States as an unvaccinated foreigner.
Last Friday, Djokovic was told that his request was denied. Djokovic then pulled out of Indian Wells. “Very disappointing, I think America is the only country that still has these restrictions. We should let this go and just let him play.
I see no reason and I’m also very disappointed that he’s not here,” Haas told Augburger-Allgemeine.
Haas finds Djokovic’s absence at Indian Wells ‘sad’
“Very disappointing, I think America is the only country that still has these restrictions…”
“We should let this go and just let him play.I see no reason and I’m also v disappointed that he’s not here.https://t.co/ipvnnXNU6f — C Kristjánsdóttir âð (@CristinaNcl) March 9, 2023
Haas lobbied for Djokovic to be allowed to play in Indian Wells
During the Australian Open, Haas was asked about the possibility of Djokovic missing the tournament for the second consecutive year just because of his vaccination status.
Haas was straight honest in his answer as he said that it “would be a disgrace” if Djokovic was again denied entry into the United States for Indian Wells. “Obviously, the one problem being that he still cannot come to the US If he doesn’t play Indian Wells and Miami in March (it will be tough), they’re supposed to lift those mandates by mid-April.
It would be nice to see if we could maybe lift those a little earlier and have him come to play Indian Wells and Miami. I think he wants to play, so we should give him the chance. Hopefully, we can have him there. I mean, it would be a disgrace in my eyes if he wasn’t coming to these events, or not allowed to come,” Haas said in January.
Djokovic is still on the Miami Masters entry list. The Miami Masters is starting in less than two weeks and Djokovic remains hopeful that sometime in the meantime will change that will allow him to play there.
