Despite COVID restrictions and vaccine requirements being in the rearview mirror for most of the world, the Biden administration continues to refuse Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic entry into the country and barring him from participating in the Miami Open over him not having a COVID vaccine. Djokovic’s initial hesitancy to receive the vaccine came from his concerns about possible health side effects. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis recently wrote a letter to President Biden, stating his objection to the policy and calling out Biden’s blatant hypocrisy, invoking a speech Biden himself gave in September of 2022 when he claimed the “pandemic is over.” The Miami Open is scheduled to take place on March 20th, and many tennis fans are hoping that Biden has a change of heart in the time leading up to the event.
NATIONAL REVIEW: DeSantis Demands Biden Allow Djokovic to Play in Miami Open despite Vaccination Status
By Carolina Downey; March 7, 2023
Florida governor Ron DeSantis sent a letter to President Biden Tuesday demanding Biden allow Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic to play in a major upcoming tournament in Florida despite his being unvaccinated.
“The only thing keeping Mr. Djokovic from participating in this tournament is your administration’s continued enforcement of a misguided, unscientific, and out-of-date COVID-19 requirement for foreign guests seeking to visit our great country,” the governor wrote in the letter slamming the Biden administration.
DeSantis cited the hypocrisy in Biden’s publicly admitting in September 2022 that the “pandemic is over” while still barring Djokovic from entering the U.S. to compete in the Miami Open, scheduled for March 20. Djokovic deserves an exemption from the arbitrary, now pointless rule, DeSantis said.
“The time has come to give up the fiction that COVID vaccines remain a necessary tool to promote public health,” he said.
DeSantis also called out Biden for presiding over an unprecedented crisis at the border, in which migrants have poured into the interior at an alarming rate but haven’t had to prove vaccination status. “Furthermore, even as you enacted the Proclamation on air travel that remains in force to this day, your administration pointedly allowed thousands of unvaccinated migrants to enter our country through the southern border,” DeSantis wrote.
Last January, Djokovic was blocked from participating in the Australian open after its border force denied his visa over an inadmissible vaccine medical exemption for foreign travelers. Djokovic was detained at a housing facility for refugees and asylum seekers while his case was being adjudicated. After a legal battle, which he lost, Djokovic was deported. Djokovic, who is the world’s top-ranked male tennis player, missed the Australian open and the chance to both defend his title as well as make a bid for a 21st singles major title.
Photo: Leonhard Foeger/Reuters