Novak Djokovic Withdraws From Next Week's US Open Due To His Vaccination Status, Leaving The Tournament Completely Wide Open

Newsday LLC. Getty Images.

And there's the news tennis fans all expected, Novak Djokovic is out of the 2022 US Open. The Serbian's hail mary prayer to have the US Government change their immigration covid policy has fallen short. And let's be honest, this is dumb on both sides. With the current status of covid you shouldn't need the vaccine to enter the country. The presence of covid in today's world compared to a year or two ago is widely different. On the flip side Novaxx could have just gotten the shot this whole time instead of having to miss out on multiple grand slam opportunities. It sucks to not have the best of the best out there competing in the tournament, but it is what it is. 

With this news however, it leaves the men's side of the US Open draw completely wide open and up for grabs. Rafael Nadal is not 100% after suffering an injury during Wimbledon in his quest to win the calendar slam. The reigning champ and current world no. 1 Daniil Medvedev has not been in his best form in quite some time. Alexander Zverev is out recovering from his brutal ankle injury at the French Open. It's become customary for grand slams to basically be a 3-4 man race in the last 15-20 years. Not this US Open and that's what gets me very excited. Could it be Kyrgios' time? FAA? Maybe Carlos Alcaraz goes Scorched Earth? How about the American Taylor Fritz? Get the point? It's anyone's ball game starting next Monday. The US Open combined with the first real weekend of college football makes for a fantastic gambling week.