An early-season piece of tennis news that is even more unsurprising than is big: Novak Djokovic has been granted a medical exemption to play the 2022 Australian Open.
Djokovic, who is unvaccinated, confirmed his upcoming title defense — as did Tennis Australia — on Tuesday.
“I’ve spent fantastic quality time with my loved ones over the break and today I’m heading Down Under with an exemption permission,” the world No. 1 wrote in the caption of a post on both Twitter and Instagram. Let’s go 2022!”
“Novak Djokovic will compete at the Australian Open and is on his way to Australia,” read a statement from tournament officials.
“Djokovic applied for a medical exemption which was granted following a rigorous review process involving two separate independent panels of medical experts. One of those was the Independent Medical Exemption Review Panel appointed by the Victorian Department of Health. They assessed all applications to see if they met the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) guidelines.”
Tournament director Craig Tiley said players, fans, and staff at the Aussie Open must be fully vaccinated unless there is a genuine reason why an exemption should be granted.
“Fair and independent protocols were established for assessing medical exemption applications that will enable us to ensure Australian Open 2022 is safe and enjoyable for everyone,” Tiley assured. “Central to this process was that the decisions were made by independent medical experts and that every applicant was given due consideration.”
Djokovic is a nine-time champion at Melbourne Park and has won the title three times in a row. The Serb triumphed last year at the end of a fortnight marked by strict Covid-19 protocols with limited attendance and nighttime curfews.
With Djokovic playing, world No. 2 and 2021 runner-up Daniil Medvedev will be the second seed. Andrey Rublev would have been No. 4 in Djokovic’s absence, but he will have to settle for the fifth spot. Hubert Hurkacz would have been No. 8 but will now be the No. 9 seed.
thoughts?
It’s an embarrassing shame and will further empower the anti-vaxx movement… especially if he wins, to the detriment of global health. There is no legitimate medical exemption that a healthy tennis player capable of competing at the highest level could have. I know so many seriously ill people, including those with very severe allergies and major immune disorders, who have safely received the vaccine. There are a few rare or debilitating diseases that would legitimately exempt a person but there is zero chance Djokovic has any of them. So it’s clear to me that “certain players” were told what they needed to submit to get an exemption. Whatever it was, it’s not scientifically up to snuff. Ironically, it only further supports the idea that the harsh rules are for the common person and the workers and the elites can do whatever they want, which for good reason makes people suspicious of what is really going on with Covid. Within the tennis world, most probably don’t care — they expected Novak to play and of course a way was found — but doctors and nurses who are being overwhelmed by desperate patients do care and it won’t be forgotten that the tennis world shrugged at them.
Agree 100%. It’s a sordid and grubby fix which is being met by widespread fury. Even some European politicians have expressed their anger and disgust.
And Novax’s tone and messaging is vomit worthy.
Agreed. We should all be suspicious of what is really going on with Covid.
There’s no proof he doesnt have a genuine reason for exemption , is there?
Its what people expected, and its ammunition for his non-fans- they want it to be true. But actual proof? ”Who gives a toss we all knew it would happen”
No, but the reasons allowed for exemption are clear and nearly all of them would be incompatible with being the world’s number one tennis player. The only one that wouldn’t be 100% ruled out is a demonstrated history of severe, life-threatening anaphylaxis requiring medical intervention after receiving prior vaccines. But this is a very very rare thing and the likelihood that it was already true of recent anti-vaxxer Djokovic when he has never mentioned it before is even slimmer. However, it would be relatively simple for him to get to a doctor to say he has had anaphylactic reactions and the outside medical panel would simply accept that. That’s far more likely than that he’s unable to be vaccinated. It’s not about ammunition against anyone. No unvaccinated players should have been exempted. If you’re healthy enough to play professional tennis, you’re healthy enough for a Covid-19 vaccine. Others who disagree with vaccination for whatever reasons stayed home as they should have.
They should exempt Australia from having a Grand Slam…
Novax might even have a court named after him if he wins
“Central to this process was that the decisions were made by independent medical experts and that every applicant was given due consideration.”
OK, but was every application anonymous and couldnt tell between the world no 100 and world no 1?
It doesn’t matter if every application was anonymous if some players were told exactly what they had to provide to pass the exemption and others weren’t. It’s not that mysterious. There are a handful of reasons that Australia allows for exemptions. You have to demonstrate one of them. You can do so if even if you’re 100% healthy if you know what they are looking for. It was obvious from the second they said there were going to be multiple exemptions that something was up.
Why are the Victorians not going for Craig Tileys neck ? Why are they sparing him ? And that Daniel Andrews premier ?
The fact that he was due to go for the ATP cup, pulled out at the last minute and now is finally able to go to Australia reeks of a failed medical exemption and a last minute second application. Also, very suspect that the Aus Open Biosecurity manager resigned just weeks before the event and days before NDs exemption.
or they left it to the last minute to avoid as much media/public backlash as possible. He was practicing with AO balls, so he probably knew he would be exempt long before the announcement. Money rules the roost; always has, always will.
Yawnnnn. Tennis interests me less by the day.
Australia’s The Age now confirms that Tennis Australia did not test or verify any medical documents received from players. It’s that simple. Those who were exempted were told what documents they needed to supply and found someone to supply them. You can be fine with that but it’s implicitly unfair to many others.
If you have the rules for medical exemptions without verification process in place( which is very difficult) you create a loophole and set yourself up for corruption. I totally agree that it is very easy to obtain the documents required for medical exemption. The only way to make it fair is to have no exemptions at all.