Just when Novak Djokovic hoped to have put vaccine controversy behind him, he has landed a further ban from playing in the United States.

The 35-year-old Serb will miss the season’s first two Masters events at Indian Wells and Miami after the US government extended its policy of barring unvaccinated travellers.

It means Djokovic cannot win extra ranking points after being excluded from America all last year due to his refusal to take the jab.

Despite that, he could still regain the world No1 spot if he wins the Australian Open this month, but Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz will probably need to lose prior to the quarter-finals.

British No1 Cam Norrie looks an early form horse for the Australian Open after he beat his second straight top-10 opponent at the United Cup in Sydney.

Norrie overcame American Taylor Fritz 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, but it was not enough to stop the GB team exiting the quarter-finals with a 4-1 loss. Katie Swan, Harriet Dart and Dan Evans all fell to US opponents.

‘It was a fantastic week for me,’ said Norrie, who polished off Fritz, Rafael Nadal and Alex de Minaur. 

‘In previous years I hadn’t started the season well. This has been great at setting the tone.’

Norrie will play next week in Auckland, where Emma Raducanu is due to take on Slovakia’s Viktoria Kuzmova on Thursday morning.