Novak Djokovic wins Wimbledon again and now plays the waiting game

Last year at the U.S. Open Novak Djokovic’s dreams of an historic calendar year Grand Slam were thwarted by a loss to Russian Daniil Medvedev in the final.

This year he might not get the change for revenge.

Medvedev will be in the field to defend his title, as the United States Tennis Association is allowing Russian and Belarusian players to compete at the U.S. Open, but Djokovic will need an assist from the United States’ government if he wants to keep his season going.

Soon after winning his fourth straight Wimbledon title with a hard-fought win over Australian Nick Kyrgios, Djokovic confirmed his COVID-19 vaccination status might keep him out of the U.S. Open.

“I’m not vaccinated and I’m not planning to get vaccinated so the only good news I can have is them removing the mandated green vaccine card or whatever you call it to enter the United States or exemption,” Djokovic said Sunday. “I don’t know. I don’t think exemption is realistically possible.

“I’ll wait for hopefully some good news from the U.S. because I would really love to go there. Play a tournament or two before the U.S. Open. If it doesn’t happen I’ll have to see what the schedule will look like.

Djokovic is a three-time U.S. Open champion, having last won the tournament in 2018.

If he isn’t allowed to enter the United States, it might be a while before he’s able to compete in another Grand Slam event. The Serb currently isn’t eligible for a visa to compete in Australia and go for a 10th Australian Open title in January 2023.

“I am on vacation,” Djokovic said. “Whether or not I’m playing any tournament soon, I’ll definitely be resting for the next couple weeks because it has been quite an exhausting and demanding period for me the last few months. A lot of tennis, which I was very happy about. I got what I wanted here.

The U.S. Open is scheduled to begin August 29 in New York.