Rotterdam tournament director Richard Krajicek reveals the tournament is dreaming of hosting Novak Djokovic again. Djokovic, 35, has played in Rotterdam three times. In 2006, Djokovic debuted in Rotterdam and reached the quarterfinal before losing to Radek Stepanek.
In his next two Rotterdam appearances – in 2007 and 2010 – Djokovic made the semifinals. After Djokovic was allowed to return to Australia at the start of this season, Krajicek knew there was no chance the Serb would play in next week’s tournament.
“We actually prepare an invitation for Djokovic every year. We thought: if he is not allowed to re-enter Australia, we will definitely talk to him. But when we learned that he would be allowed to participate in the Australian Open, we already knew that he would not come to Rotterdam,” Krajicek said, per We Love Tennis.
Djokovic is hoping to be allowed to play Indian Wells, Miami
Last year, Djokovic missed three Masters tournaments in the United States due to his vaccine stance. Since unvaccinated foreigners are still not allowed to enter the United States, Djokovic applied for a special permission to travel to the United States for the upcoming Masters events in Indian Wells and Miami.
Djokovic’s brother Djordje revealed the news on Friday. “Unfortunately, it is something that is out of our hands. Novak needs to get a special permission to enter, considering that the USA still doesn’t let unvaccinated foreigners into the country, which is unbelievable, considering that we have seen big sporting manifestations with unvaccinated athletes throughout the world.
There are a few days left until the decision, we are hoping for a positive outcome,” Djordje Djokovic told Tanjug. In May, the United States will end its current vaccine rules and that means Djokovic will very likely be allowed to return to the US Open later this year and play in all four Grand Slams.
