Governor Ron DeSantis wrote President Joe Biden this week to urge the President to allow Novak Djokovic to compete in a Florida tournament by allowing him entry into the country.
Djokovic won the first Grand Slam event of the year despite a hamstring injury at the start of the year.
His problems began after the injury healed when his team realized the following two important events were in the United States, which doesn’t allow unvaccinated foreigners. It is not known whether Djokovic has been vaccinated against COVID. According to the report, some medical experts who support vaccination believe the restriction is no longer necessary.
Due to injury, Djokovic could not compete in either tournament, which is being held in Miami.
President Biden’s misguided and unscientific COVID-19 vaccination requirement for foreigners is keeping Novak Djokovic from participating in the Miami Open tennis tournament, DeSantis wrote on Twitter. The President should lift his restrictions so he can compete.
DeSantis’ letter called the Biden administration’s refusal to allow him into the country “unfair, unscientific, and unacceptable.”
The only thing keeping Novak Djokovic from participating in the Miami Open tennis tournament is President Biden’s misguided and unscientific COVID-19 vaccination requirement for foreigner travelers.
Mr. President – lift your restrictions and let him compete. pic.twitter.com/fFyhNoUV4S— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) March 7, 2023
“While Mr. Djokovic is surely a supreme competitive threat to his fellow tennis professionals, his presence in our country poses no meaningful health or public safety risk,” DeSantis said. “I note that since the onset of COVID-19, Mr. Djokovic has visited the United States at least twice — including once during your presidency — without any apparent health incident.”
As a result, DeSantis suggested using a loophole to bypass the Biden administration’s restrictions on unvaccinated foreign nationals.
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“It is also not clear to me why, even by the terms of your proclamation, Mr. Djokovic could not legally enter this country via boat,” DeSantis wrote. “Please confirm no later than Friday, March 10, 2023, that this method of travel into Florida would be permissible.”
DeSantis explained in the letter that Biden’s previous proclamations only restricted foreign nationals from entering the U.S. through air travel and at “land ports of entry and ferry terminals at the U.S.-Mexico and U.S.-Canada borders.”
DeSantis said, “your administration doesn’t seem to have imposed similar restrictions on non-U.S. citizens trying to enter our country by boat.”
DeSantis then pointed out how the administration went against its rules to allow “thousands of unvaccinated migrants to enter our country through the southern border.”
The Miami Open, scheduled for March 20, should allow Mr. Djokovic the opportunity to compete. According to DeSantis, Djokovic is an exceptional tennis player. I respectfully request his exemption to ensure that he delights and inspires tennis fans in Florida and across the country.
