(CNN) The world’s leading men’s tennis player Novak Djokovic will miss the Miami Open subsequent week, right after getting denied entry to the United States simply because he is unvaccinated against Covid-19, tournament director James Blake announced on Friday.

The United States nonetheless demands international guests to be vaccinated against Covid-19, and the Serbian, who has previously confirmed that he remains unvaccinated, had applied for unique permission to enter the nation ahead of the tournament.

“We attempted to get Novak Djokovic to be permitted to get an exemption, but that wasn’t capable to occur,” Blake stated in an interview with the Tennis Channel.

“Clearly, we’re a single of the premier tournaments in the globe, we’d like to have the most effective players that can play. We did all that we could. We attempted to speak to the government, but that is out of our hands.”

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis stated earlier this month he would “run a boat from the Bahamas” for Djokovic to compete in the Miami Open tennis tournament.

DeSantis known as on US President Joe Biden to drop the vaccine requirement for international travelers so the 22-time grand slam champion would be capable to compete.

The 35-year-old Djokovic has missed various other tournaments simply because of his vaccination status. Earlier this month, Djokovic withdrew from the ongoing BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells in California due to getting denied the exemption. Final year, he missed Indian Wells, the Miami Open and all the tournaments incorporated in the US Open swing.

The Miami Open’s most important draw play begins March 22 and and the tournament ends April two.