Casper Ruud says he would not have felt threatened by Novak Djokovic’s presence if the unvaccinated Serb was allowed to compete in Indian Wells. Djokovic, ranked at No 1 in the world, wasn’t allowed to enter the United States for Indian Wells as an unvaccinated foreigner.
In February, Djokovic applied to be granted a special permission to enter the United States this March. Unfortunately for Djokovic, his request was denied and for the second straight year the Serb missed Indian Wells for the same reason.
Ruud on the Djokovic US entry ban
“Yeah, I mean, it’s not up to me to say whether it’s fair or not. I think the rule is silly if he’s not a threat to the community at all at this stage whether or not he’s vaccinated, so that’s something that I can say.
It’s a bit sort of childish because the rule changes in a couple of weeks so they couldn’t might as well change it already. But rules are rules and I’m sure they have tried everything that they can. With the context that Novak has, I’m sure that everything has been tried, and it hasn’t been possible.
In general, the country has sort of banned unvaccinated until in around a month, I think they will open the ban or something so it is a bit silly if you ask me but it’s fair or not, I don’t know. Like I said, I wouldn’t have felt threatened by Novak if he was here and he was unvaccinated,” Ruud said on Eurosport’s Ruud Talk, per Sportskeeda.
On Wednesday, the Miami Masters is starting. Djokovic is still on the Miami entry list and hoping for a last-moment change of scenery that would allow him to play in Miami. If Djokovic doesn’t get allowed to play in Miami, he will turn his focus on the clay season and the Monte Carlo Masters, which starts on April 9th.
