Everything indicates that Novak Djokovic —a big unvaccinated star—will be on the list of absentees for the National Bank Open which begins this weekend. On the other hand, the Montreal Canadiens and CF Montreal will be there.
The former tennis number 1 has not officially announced his withdrawal from the tournament, but “we do not expect him to be able to play”, confirms Marc-Antoine Farly, head of tournament communications.
The calendar proves him right. The Serbian’s stubborn refusal not to receive a COVID-19 vaccine is well known. Nothing indicates that he changed his tune. Then, unvaccinated travelers who want to enter Canada must go through a 14-day quarantine before they can move freely. The tournament begins on Saturday. And said player has yet to set foot in a Canadian airport.
Its cancellation cannot be delayed. The draw for the names of the first duelists takes place this Friday.
Novak Djokovic nevertheless dominates the professional tennis circuit. He easily won the last two Grand Slams in which he was able to participate, that of Wimbledon and that of Roland-Garros.
His stubbornness deprived him of other important participations. A refusal by the Australian authorities to grant him an exceptional exemption slowed his momentum at the start of the year. His participation in the United States Open at the end of August remains just as compromised.
However, like his Australian experience, Djokovic hopes to obtain a special pass to play on American soil.“The Joker” posted a video of him in training on his Instagram account with the following explanation: “I am preparing as if I were authorized to compete, waiting to find out if there is room for me to travel to the United States. I cross my fingers! »
The current sixth racket in the world has had a passion for the incongruous and the esoteric since long before the pandemic. He regularly travels to the small town of Visoko, near Sarajevo, in Bosnia, to recharge his batteries near a mountain nicknamed “Pyramid of the Sun”, which he considers to be “energetically charged”.
“Here, you can feel the energy, each in their own way. For me, it is one of the most powerful places on the planet in terms of energy, and I have seen a lot of it,” he said during his most recent visit last July.
The Canadiens and CF Montreal in the game
Among the other absentees from the Montreal tournament, we can note the Russian flag. Some tournaments, such as Wimbledon, have banned any player from Russia outright, but the majority of competitions do not ban players, only the flaunting of Russian patriotism as a response to the war in Ukraine.
“We don’t want to discriminate. You can banish a nation, but not an individual,” summarizes Mr. Farly.
The world number 2, Alexander Zverev, will also miss the Montreal meeting. The German, 2017 National Bank Open champion, tore several ankle ligaments earlier this year and must therefore draw a line under the courts of Jarry Park.
Apart from these false leaps, almost all of the 40 best players on the planet meet in Montreal. We bet that the Quebec prodigy Félix Auger-Aliassime will capture the attention.
Sports fans will also be able to catch a curious competition on Saturday. Hockey stars (Jonathan Huberdeau and Nick Suzuki, in particular) will face the best tennis players in the world in a friendly ball hockey match. Same refrain the next day with CF Montreal stars on a soccer field.
In addition to a name change passed over in silence last year, the former Rogers Cup will thus return to a form of pre-pandemic normality.