Novak Djokovic could be barred from playing in French Open

(PARIS) — Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic could be barred from competing in the French Open following the French Parliament’s adoption of a vaccine pass on Sunday.

Professional athletes, regardless of nationality, will now have to show their credentials and present a vaccine pass to access sports venues, France’s Minister of Sports Roxana Maracineanu told reporters on Monday.

Maracineanu had told French radio station France Info differently earlier this month, saying that athletes like Djokovic could benefit from exemptions “because the protocol, the health bubble of these major sporting events will allow it.”

However, she said on Monday that the recent law to curb the spread of the new coronavirus passed by the French Parliament had changed the situation.

French lawmakers passed a controversial piece of legislation on Sunday that will require people 16 years and older to have a vaccine certificate to enter public places such as restaurants, cafés, bars and cinemas. The regulation will apply to sports venues as well, Maracineanu announced, saying she hoped for the French sports sector to become an “ambassador(s) of these measures on the international level.”

Djokovic, who is unvaccinated, spent nearly a week in visa limbo in Australia, which has strict COVID-19 and vaccine rules for those entering the country. After a brief legal challenge, a judge ruled Djokovic had to leave the country.

The new vaccine pass regulation, which has not yet been promulgated, should come into force in the coming days.

Under these new regulations, athletes without a valid vaccine pass would not be allowed to compete French Open, which will be held in May in Paris.

A prior COVID-19 infection could make someone eligible for a vaccine pass, but only under strict conditions that need to be specified in a decree that will accompany the law, a spokesperson at the French Sports Ministry told ABC News.

The details of the decree should be announced at the end of the week and will reveal how long after a positive test that one’s infection can act as a vaccine pass under the new regulation.