Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) appealed to President Joe Biden to grant Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic an exemption on the COVID-19 mandate so he can play in the Miami Open.
"The only thing keeping Mr. Djokovic from participating in this tournament is your administration's continued enforcement of a misguided, unscientific, and out-of-date COVID-19 vaccination requirement for foreign guests seeking to visit our great country," DeSantis wrote in a letter obtained by the Washington Examiner.
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DeSantis also requested that the Biden administration confirm by March 10 that Djokovic cannot enter Florida via boat. He noted in a footnote that Biden's Oct. 25, 2021, proclamation "governs the entry into the United States of noncitizen nonimmigrants ... by air. "
"Your administration does not appear to have issued analogous restrictions for non-U.S. individuals seeking to enter our country by boat," he added in the footnote.
Earlier this year, Djokovic won the Australian Open for the 10th time after having been blocked from last year's tournament for his refusal to take the COVID-19 vaccination. He recently withdrew from the Indian Wells tournament.
Djokovic has run into hurdles in gaining entrance to the U.S. to play the Miami Open, which runs from March 19 to April 2, due to his lack of vaccination. An outcry of Republicans and conservatives such as Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Rick Scott (R-FL) has urged the Biden administration to ease up and allow him into the U.S.
"It has been reported that Novak Djokovic has formally applied and been denied permission from your administration to enter the United States so that he may compete at the upcoming Miami Open tennis tournament. This denial is unfair, unscientific and unacceptable. I urge you to reconsider," DeSantis further pleaded. "Let him play."
DeSantis, whose rise in conservative circles came about due to his disparagement of pandemic suppression measures, argued that three years after the onset of the COVID-19 respiratory illness, "it is now clear that the COVID-19 vaccines are not as effective as initially advertised."
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The Florida governor further chided the Biden administration over its lax policies toward illegal immigration. DeSantis has been eyeing legislation aimed at combating "Biden's border crisis." He is also rumored to be mulling a 2024 run for the presidency.
"Even as [Biden] enacted the Proclamation on air travel that remains in force to this day, [Biden’s] administration pointedly allowed thousands of unvaccinated migrants to enter our country through the southern border," DeSantis chided.