Novak Djokovic gets green signal to play French Open ‘as things stand’

After missing out the Australian Open due to a Covid-19 vaccination row, Novak Djokovic can be seen defending his French Open title. The tournament organisers on Wednesday stated that the Serbian will be allowed to participate as France has lifted Covid restrictions in almost all public spaces. 

"As things stand, nothing stands in the way of Djokovic taking part in the French Open," tournament director Amelie Mauresmo told a news conference on Wednesday.

The 20-time Grand Slam winner was not allowed to take part in Melbourne and was deported from the country in a furore after being initially admitted to the tournament despite not being vaccinated against coronavirus. 

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The World No. 2 is not part of ATP 1000 tournaments at Indian Wells and Miami, after he was not allowed to enter the United States without a proof of vaccination. This is not required to enter France. 

However, French tennis federation (FFT) president Gilles Moretton did caution that things could change before the start of the tournament in May 22 depending on the situation. 

"There's still a virus circulating and we have to be cautious. If things were to happen again and the government would take new measures we would not be excluded from these measures," he explained.

The president was also optimistic to see crowd back in full capacity at the Roland Garros stadium after the previous two editions were hit by Covid-19.

"We started selling tickets on March 8 and 500,000 of the 600,000 have already been sold," Moretton told a news conference on Wednesday.

"Out of the 150,000 tickets for the night sessions, 100,000 have been sold."

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