You must have lived on another planet for the past 7 days not to have heard of the  “Djokovic case” Professional padel will visit many countries next season: could a similar situation happen in our sport?

Djokovic's situation

Le  No. 1 worldwide  tennis player has been publicly opposed to any type of vaccine for a very long time. It is therefore natural that he did not vaccinate against the coronavirus. However, to enter Australia, the vaccine is compulsory.

While  Australian public opinion  was dismayed when the organization of the Australian Open  granted the Serbian a  exceptional authorization  to participate in Grand Chelem, the  police arrested Novak  upon arrival at the airport. From there began a legal battle between Djokovic's lawyers and the Australian government, which made the arrival of the Serbian on its territory a  state matter .

 Djokovic  won his legal appeal on procedural grounds, but the government wants to confront the Serb with his contradictions, and is ready to do anything to  cancel the visa of “Nole" .

djokovic australia

A similar situation in padel would most likely not generate as much media noise, but we can ask ourselves the question at the dawn of the most international season in the history of the WPT and the APT.

Many countries visited by the pro padel circuits

The two professional international circuits will indeed visit many countries.

Le  World Padel Tour  will go to the United States, Mexico, Spain, Belgium, France, Sweden, Denmark, Argentina, Portugal, and a country in the Middle East.

The  APT Padel Tour  meanwhile only announced the first half with Paraguay, Argentina, Monaco, South Africa, Spain, Portugal and Austria.

apt calendar 2022

A priori, none of these destinations has for the moment a policy as strict as that of Australia regarding the vaccination of travelers. The most stringent country should presumably be  that of the Middle East  for the WPT, but at the moment we don't know exactly which one it is, although it looks like Dubai is on the rise. So there could be a problem if a WPT player is not vaccinated.

What we do know is that before vaccination, players had to take numerous PCR tests to play tournaments, and that in Spain these tests cost around € 90. The players were therefore vaccinated with economic enthusiasm to no longer have to pay these large sums to be tested. To date, we have no knowledge of an unvaccinated player, and it will be difficult to keep a secret if a country on the calendar requires vaccination to enter the territory ...

From his names, we can guess his Spanish and Italian origins. Lorenzo is a multilingual passionate about sports: journalism by vocation and events by worship are his two legs. He is the international gentleman of Padel Magazine. You will often see him at various international competitions, but also at major French events. @eyeofpadel on Instagram to see his best padel photos!

On the same subject

Tags