The World Surf League has to be ecstatic that Kelly looks to be in. Photo: Tony Heff/World Surf League
Something has changed for Kelly Slater in the last week. If you recall, after winning the Pipeline Pro (er Billabong Pro Pipeline) he said in the interview after that, “this may be it for him.” Slater’s vaccination status, or his lack of definitively stating it, had been the consternation of the Australian government, which said it wouldn’t allow him to compete in the upcoming Australian leg of the Championship Tour if he didn’t have the jab, like it did Novak Djokovic in tennis.
But whether it was a chance to win his 12th world title at 50, or just the hunger to compete, Slater recently told Australian Reuters media that he’d “see them in Australia.”
“(My vaccination status) is an important question, and there’s a reason I’m not talking about it that is personal,” he told Reuters. “I do believe that medical privacy is a real thing. But I think my answer that I’ll see you in Australia answers that.” According to the World Surf League, he hasn’t applied for a vaccine exemption.
So it looks as though Slater either relented or found away around the situation. Either way, it seems like we’ll be seeing him compete in Australia.
Read a recent interview The Inertia did with Kelly Slater’s mother Judy, for more insight into the GOAT’s historic, yet complicated career, here.
