Djokovic officially out of Indian Wells, Miami

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INDIAN WELLS, Calif. – Nearly 24 hours after the BNP Paribas Open men’s singles draw was made, No. 2 seed Novak Djokovic officially withdrew from the tournament.

In a brief statement on his social media, Djokovic said he basically had waited to see if the requirements for entry into the U.S. were going to change in the final few days before his scheduled first-round match this weekend.

Apparently he was assured on Wednesday that when and if this happens, it won’t be on time either for Indian Wells or Miami in two weeks.

Here’s his statement.

Luckily for everyone (although obviously not for Djokovic), the suspense about this didn’t drag on through the weekend, up to the moment when he was scheduled for his first match.

Because it could have, as long as he was in the draw.

Tournament already “missed” him

This is the second time thie year that Djokovic’s status in a tournament was in doubt until the very last minute.

What’s next for Novak Djokovic, who loses final appeal to play AO?

But unlike in Australia, where ongoing litigation meant that he still had some sort of chance to come out of it and play – indeed, he practiced several days on site at Melbourne Park while waiting for it all to play out – the U.S. situation was a different story.

The way the border entry protocols were, there didn’t seem to be any loophole for Djokovic to squeeze through to get into the country.

Without getting into the country, whether Djokovic was allowed to play in the tournaments or not was a moot point.

As it was, days before, the tournament had already added Djokovic to the wall of absent former champions and No. 1s – which include Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Dominic Thiem, Juan Martin del Potro and Bianca Andreescu.

They didn’t seem to have a ton of information about Djokovic’s plans – and even put out a statement Tuesday, after the draw.

It was, in the grand scheme, a pretty extraordinary statement – an explanation (such as it was) of why a player was IN the draw.

From his statement, it was clear that Djokovic was hoping until the last moment that the entry rules would be relaxed – likely, that his “Covid-recovered” state from late December would be recent enough to allow him to enter the country unvaccinated.

That didn’t happen. At least, not in time.

So Djokovic still has played just one tournament in 2022.

Dimitrov becomes No. 33 seed

The news comes before the start of the men’s singles event. So unlike the Australian Open, it was possible to make a change to at least offer a little more balance to the draw.

As with the women (where Alizé Cornet moved into the top slot in the draw after No. 1 seed Barbora Krejcikova’s withdrawal late Tuesday), Grigor Dimitrov becomes the No. 33 seed.

He moves into Djokovic’s slot at the very bottom of the men’s draw.

*Grigor Dimitrov becomes the No. 33 seed in the men’s singles draw.*

A lucky loser will come out of the qualifying to take Dimitrov’s spot.

Meanwhile, Portugese veteran Joao Sousa, who would have gotten into the main draw had Djokovic withdrawn 24 hours earlier, is still alive.

He ended up the No. 2 seed in qualifying. On Tuesday night, he fended off two match points to defeat Aussie Max Purcell 57 76 (5) 76 (4) in a shade under three hours.

It was a key win. Because even after losing Wednesday to big-serving American Christopher Eubanks, the No. 2 seed still had a shot at a lucky loser spot.

(Editor’s note: he made it).

From agony to ectasy for lucky loser Joao Sousa

There is more trickle-down effect that – including whomever would have squeezed into the qualifying draw had Sousa moved up to the main draw.

Even losing in the first round of qualifying at Indian Wells earns you in excess of $5,000 US – which is a lot for a lower-ranked player living on the line between the black and the red.

As well, Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime would have been the No. 8 seed, instead of No. 9.

That means he would have been assured of not facing a top-eight seed until the quarterfinals. As it is, if both make it through, he would face No. 6 Matteo Berrettini in the round of 16.