Page 15 - aruba-today-20220826

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sports Friday 26 august 2022
Unvaccinated Djokovic out of U.S.

Open; can’t travel to States

Australian rider Jay Vine from Alpecin Deceuninck team
celebrates after winning the 6th stage of the Vuelta cycling
race between Bilbao and Pico Jano - San Miguel de Aguayo,
In this Sept. 12, 2021, file photo, Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, returns a shot to Daniil Medvedev, of northern Spain, Thursday, Aug. 25, 2022.
Russia, during the men’s singles final of the U..S. Open tennis championships in New York. Associated Press
Associated Press
By BRIAN MAHONEY against COVID-19 are and Cincinnati recently.
AP Basketball Writer currently unable to enter He did play in the French Evenepoel takes
NEW YORK (AP) — Novak the U.S or Canada, and Open, where he lost in
Djokovic will not play in the Djokovic has said he won’t the quarterfinals to Nadal, Vuelta’s red jersey as
U.S. Open, as expected, get the shots, even if that and at Wimbledon, where
because he is not vacci- prevents him from playing Djokovic won the title. Roglic moves closer
nated against COVID-19 in certain tournaments. After beating Nick Kyrgios
and thus is not allowed to The U.S. Tennis Associa- in the Wimbledon final on
travel to the United States. tion has said all along it will July 10, Djokovic said he BILBAO, Spain (AP) — Remco Evenepoel took the
Djokovic announced his follow government rules “would love” to partici- leader’s red jersey on a wet and cold day at the Span-
withdrawal from the year’s about vaccination status pate in the last Grand Slam ish Vuelta on Thursday, while Jay Wine overcame a flat
last Grand Slam tourna- for this year’s Open. tournament of the year at tire to win the sixth stage and defending champion
ment on Twitter on Thurs- There is no vaccine man- Flushing Meadows, but he Primoz Roglic moved closer to the top.
day, hours before the draw date at the tournament also acknowledged, “I’m Evenepoel was second to Wine after a tough final
for the event was revealed. for players or their support not planning to get vacci- climb, enough to put him 21 seconds ahead of pre-
“Sadly, I will not be able teams — meaning that an nated.” vious overall leader Rudy Molard and 28 seconds in
to travel to NY this time for unvaccinated American About three weeks later, front of Enric Mas, who was third in a foggy finish on
US Open,” Djokovic wrote, would be allowed to com- Djokovic posted on social Thursday.
wishing luck to his fellow pete — and spectators will media that he was hold- “I’m proud to be leader. It’s a big dream come true,”
players, and said he would not be required to wear ing out hope of getting the said Evenepoel, who rides for team Quick-Step Alpha
“keep in good shape and masks. chance to play in the U.S. Vinyl. “This is the reason why I’ve been working so hard
positive spirit and wait for “Novak is a great cham- Open, writing: “I am pre- for so long. What I showed today is maybe one of the
an opportunity to compete pion and it is very unfortu- paring as if I will be allowed best things I did on a bike. In an uphill finish to put such
again.” nate that he will be unable to compete, while I await a strong performance thanks to the team is a dream
Play is scheduled to begin to compete at the 2022 to hear if there is any room come true.”
at Flushing Meadows on U.S. Open, as he is unable for me to travel to US. Fin- Evenepoel is the first Belgian leader of the Vuelta since
Monday. to enter the country due to gers crossed!” Dylan Teuns took the red jersey after the sixth stage of
Djokovic is a 35-year-old the federal government’s Djokovic has spent more the race in 2019.
from Serbia who owns 21 vaccination policy for non- weeks at No. 1 than any- Roglic, the Jumbo-Visma rider going for a fourth straight
major championships, one U.S. citizens,” said Stacey one else in the history of Vuelta title, was more than four minutes off the lead
behind Rafael Nadal for Allaster, the U.S. Open tour- the ATP rankings. He is No. 6 entering the sixth stage. He moved to within about a
the men’s record. Three of nament director. “We look this week, in part because minute of Evenepoel with a strong run on Thursday.
Djokovic’s Slam trophies forward to welcoming No- no rankings points were Wine, the Australian from team Alpecin-Deceuninck,
came at the U.S. Open, in vak back at the 2023 U.S. awarded at Wimbledon had a flat tire less than five kilometers (three miles) into
2011, 2015 and 2018. Open.” this year. the stage but recovered and made it back to the front
He also was the runner-up Djokovic missed the Austra- Among the other players to win his first Grand Tour stage.
there a half-dozen times, lian Open in January after who will not be at the U.S. “It’s almost unreal,” Wine said. “It’s a dream come
including last season, when a protracted legal saga Open for various reasons true. I was able to manage my effort and pace the
his pursuit of the first cal- ended with his deportation are No. 2-ranked Alexander climb pretty handily. (In the last kilometer) I thought
endar-year Grand Slam from that country because Zverev, the 2020 runner-up about my wife who’s basically done everything for me
in men’s tennis since 1969 he isn’t vaccinated against in New York; 2016 champi- in the last three or four years to get me to this point.”
ended with a loss in the fi- COVID-19. He also sat out on Angelique Kerber; 2019 Jan Hirt had to withdraw because of a positive test for
nal to Daniil Medvedev. four significant tourna- French Open finalist Mar- the coronavirus.
Foreign citizens who have ments in North America in keta Vondrousova; Gael The seventh stage will feature a mid-mountain route of
not been vaccinated 2022, including in Montreal Monfils and Reilly Opelka.q nearly 200 kilometers (125 miles) on Friday.q