The French Sports Ministry said on Monday there would be no exemption from France’s new vaccine pass law.
World number one Novak Djokovic, who has not been vaccinated against COVID-19, was deported from Australia on Sunday before the first Grand Slam tournament of the year after losing a court case to have his visa overturned.
France’s vaccine pass law will require people to have a certificate of vaccination to enter public places such as restaurants, cafes and long-distance trains.
The rule is simple: “the vaccine pass will be imposed, as soon as the law is promulgated” in all establishments that were already subject to the old health check passed by parliament on Sunday. Now as far as Roland Garros goes it’s in May, the situation may change between now and then and we hope that it will be more favourable. So we’ll see, but clearly there’s no exemption.
French Sports Minister Valerie Fourneyron has called for Novak Djokovic to prove his fitness before entering the French Open, which starts at Roland Garros on Sunday.
She said that the world number one had ‘very little time’ to recover from an elbow injury before next week’s tournament in Paris after pulling out of this week’s Madrid Open due to the problem.
“Every player who is in top 10 should be able to play all four grand slams,” she told reporters in Madrid on Wednesday, where she was attending a conference about sports betting and gambling sponsorship.
“It would be very unfortunate if he couldn’t play in Roland Garros.”
