Novak Djokovic withdraws from ATP Cup in Sydney

Announcement by organisers comes amid hypothesis over Serbian tennis champion’s vaccination standing forward of Australian Open.

Tennis famous person Novak Djokovic has pulled out of the ATP Cup in Sydney, amid hypothesis about his vaccination standing and whether or not he'll defend his Australian Open title subsequent month.

“World No.1 Novak Djokovic has withdrawn from the 2022 ATP Cup,” organisers mentioned in an announcement on Wednesday, forward of the beginning of the event on Saturday.

There was intense hypothesis over the Serbian champion’s participation in each occasions. The 34-year-old, who has repeatedly declined to say if he has been inoculated towards COVID-19, final month reiterated his stance about freedom of selection over taking the vaccine.

Tennis Australia, organisers of the Australian Open, which begins on January 17, have stipulated that each one contributors have to be vaccinated towards the coronavirus or have a medical exemption granted by an unbiased panel of consultants.

Djokovic has gained a report 9 Australian Open titles, together with the final three, and is in a three-way tie on 20 main titles with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

His father Srdjan informed a Serbian tv channel final month that Djokovic would most likely pull out of the key, saying Tennis Australia’s stance on necessary vaccination was tantamount to “blackmail”.

Owing to Djokovic’s present world rating, Serbia obtained prime billing for the 16-team ATP Cup occasion, which runs till January 9, and have been put in Group A together with Norway, Chile and Spain when the draw was held this month.

“Staff Serbia will now be led by world quantity 33 Dusan Lajovic,” the organisers’ assertion mentioned, including that “Staff USA’s Austin Krajicek has additionally withdrawn, and won't get replaced at the moment”.

The season-opening occasion has additionally seen Austria, which failed the eligibility standards following the withdrawal of each Dominic Thiem and Dennis Novak, get replaced by France.

Russia, final 12 months’s winner, will probably be lacking Andrey Rublev and Aslan Karatsev from that group. Evgeny Karlovskiy will as an alternative be a part of the group.