Less than 48 hours after getting an exemption from the Australian Open to participate in the tournament despite being unvaccinated, Novak Djokovic’s status for the first Grand Slam of 2022 endured a complete 180 on Wednesday night.
It was not until now that this story completely blew up, but it had been brewing for a while. Would Djokovic be able to play at Melbourne Park even though he has refused to get the Covid-19 vaccine and even though Australia has always enforced the most strict health and safety protocols of just about every country in the world? That has been the question for many months now.
When the Serb got the exemption earlier this week, he appeared all set to go on his Australian voyage.
In fact, he did go!
“I’ve spent fantastic quality time with my loved ones over the break and today I’m heading Down Under with an exemption permission,” Djokovic wrote in the caption of a post on both Twitter and Instagram on Tuesday. “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.”
Somewhere along the way, however, there was quite clearly a breakdown in communication between Tennis Australia and the Australian government. The former said he could play; the latter said he could not even enter the country.
Unfortunately for Djokovic, he had already begun the trip Down Under before being aware of — or perhaps “being made aware of” is more accurate — a potential issue in his status. Thus when the world No. 1 arrived in Melbourne, he was in for an incredibly rude awakening.
Border control held up Djokovic at the Melbourne airport upon his arrival late Wednesday night. Hours of negotiating and deliberating led to isolation in a lonely airport room with no cell phone for much of the night. There was confusion over the reason for Djokovic’s barred entry, but rather than some sort of incorrect visa it appears that an inability to provide a valid excuse for being unvaccinated is at the heart of the matter.
In the end, the answer was “no.”
“Mr Djokovic’s visa has been cancelled,” prime minister Scott Morrison tweeted on Thursday morning. “Rules are rules, especially when it comes to our borders. No one is above these rules. Our strong border policies have been critical to Australia having one of the lowest death rates in the world from COVID, we are continuing to be vigilant.”
“The advice that I have literally just received before joining you is that the visa for Novak Djokovic has been canceled,” health minister Greg Hunt said at a news conference. “It’s a matter for him whether he wishes to appeal that, but if a visa is canceled, somebody will have to leave the country.”
“The Australian Border Force will continue to ensure that those who arrive at our border comply with our laws and entry requirements,” the ABF stated.
After spending the entire night at the Melbourne airport, Djokovic was transported to a quarantine hotel and is expected to be deported from Australia on Thursday morning.
The 34-year-old is a nine-time champion of the Aussie Open and has won the title three times in a row. He triumphed last year at the end of a fortnight marked by strict Covid-19 protocols with limited attendance and nighttime curfews.
If Djokovic is unable to play this year, world No. 2 and 2021 runner-up Daniil Medvedev will be the top seed. Other impactful changes would see Andrey Rublev move up to No. 4 and Hubert Hurkacz climb to No. 8.
unbelievable scenes
It’s in the court now. Will the court rule in his favour overturning the decision of the border force and PM ?
https://www.news.com.au/sport/tennis/novak-djokovic-lands-in-australia-but-victorian-government-says-it-wont-support-his-entry-due-to-a-visa-isssue/news-story/c8ad25e22c30931a27347adfefb176a2
Djokovic is getting absolutely hammered. As soon as the Serbian president weighed in they cancelled his VISA.
It’s fair to say that all of Djokovic’s antics over the years (i.e. bending the rules in his favor) hasn’t gone unnoticed.
Its turned into a farce.
Novak Djokovic wins court bid to remain in Australia until Monday
So far:
Australian Nat’l gov’t: 1, Djokovic and Tennis Australia 0. Let’s see if the Aussie courts have anything different to say.
Djokovic wont win the AO anyway. I think he’s a good chance at winning RG and Wimbledon due to lack of competition on those surfaces.
Why won’t he win ? And why will he win RG ? Rafa and Thiem are there
Will be very interesting if he misses the AO and Nadal win’s RG. Everything will be riding on a Wimbledon victory. Could turn out to be a cracker year of tennis.
Everyone fighting that that 1 extra grand slam that they all think makes a difference Lol
Carina Ford, an immigration law specialist with no connection to the case, said Djokovic’s lawyers would also be mindful that anyone who has a visa cancelled can be barred from reapplying to enter Australia for three years, unless they have a waiver.
“It does have serious consequences,” she said.
So let’s be honest here, Djokovic is not a direct threat to public health and he was not going to cause a new Covid-19 wave in Australia. The current vaccines don’t seem to have any effect against Omicron spreading.
That being said, he’s a pretty big threat to any kind of measures against Covid-19 since this pandemic started. Sure, he’s young and as healthy as it gets, he doesn’t have many reasons to fear this virus (actually he got it twice and he’s just fine), but people are dying. He probably (indirectly) got people killed by organising the Adria tour and apparently learned nothing from that.
Now, I’m not sure how he got his exemption for not being vaccinated. He probably can’t really prove any health issues and I’m pretty sure that he got plenty of vaccines as he visited places that require vaccination (say for tropical diseases) and that shows in his medical records. So I suspect that he got an exemption that it’s simply not valid in Australia (probably some nonsense medical report from his Serbian doctors).
What I really don’t get is Djokovic’s crusade against Covid-19 measures. Okay, we know that he is not that smart, but still. I guess that he wants to be popular at least for Eastern Europeans which sadly were manipulated against this vaccine and against Covid-19 measures generally speaking.
He could have gotten away with it if he was just a bit smarter. He could have refused to comment whether he’s vaccinated or not and they might have closed their eyes at the border. But no, he wanted to show that he goes there on his own terms and almost forced the Australian government to deport him. Australia suffered a lot because of the anti-Covid-19 measures and they are about to suffer some more because of Omicron. Right now Novak serves as the perfect example for their government. If they leave him in under the circumstances, next time they try to impose a lockdown they might have a revolution (not just a riot) on their hands. I suspect that he has been played, not that he doesn’t deserve it.
The stupidity of the Serbian authorities is also amazing. They should have gotten Djokovic to support anti-Covid-19 measures a long time ago rather than trying to back his exemption while they are struggling to increase the vaccination rate in their country.
One more thing: let’s be clear that Djokovic wants to enter Australia to work there, not to visit kangaroos, so he should obtain a working visa for a (really) non-essential worker. If I were in the Australian government, I wouldn’t let him (or any other non-Australian citizen) enter the country unvaccinated no matter the reasons.
If it is so important to be vaccinated to get into Australia, why don’t they allow people vaccinated with Chinese and Russian vaccines?
No other explanation to that than politics.
But what goes around comes around…
Because you can’t trust those vaccines. For Sputnik as an example they found out that what was sent for certification was not the same as what was being actually sold. China is responsible for this pandemic and they are constantly caught lying, how can you trust their vaccines? Russia is constantly attacking the rest of Europe in multiple ways and generating a lot of Covid 19 related fake news. Why would anyone buy vaccines from them? Not to mention that both countries generally speaking produce very low quality goods – unless production is supervised from outside.
Probably this is political as well – but as a country you can decide which vaccines you accept.
Well if you cannot uphold the olympian motto that sport is above polytics, you shouldn’t really organize sport events.
You are aware that there were multiple players exempted and entered Australia under the same conditions like Djokovic?
If they cannot keep the same criteria there, what else is there to talk about.
Also, keep in mind that the information you’re offering about Russia and China is actually what Western media is serving. Don’t be naive that it is necessarily true.
If you’re old enough, you must have learned so far that in life, truth is usually in beetwen two opposing sides, not just what one side claims…
I am old enough to know for a fact that Russians can NEVER be trusted. Generally speaking, oppressive regimes can never be trusted. I used Russian products in my youth and Chinese ones afterwards. I would never (knowingly) inject myself with something supervised by those countries.
It’s obvious that both countries LIED about Covid-19 impact on them (just by looking at the nonsense numbers which they – not the Western media – provided). I’m sure that we wouldn’t find out by any serious side effects of their vaccines until it’s much too late (like we didn’t find out about how serious Covid-19 is).
Granted, failed certification of the Russian vaccine may be distorted by the media (although it seems entirely plausible to me – I doubt that they CAN produce same vaccine in different factories not to say day by day). However, if anyone doubts that Covid-19 started in China, then “Don’t look up!”
Djokovic isn’t stupid but he is arrogant. It’s understandable. When was the last time anyone said “no” to him? There’s a reason Rafa fears arrogance more than death…
Nadal is getting a bit vocal. Beats one player ranked outside the top 100 and starts getting a bit lippy.
He would love to see Djokovic get the boot and then get to 21 and start putting the heat on Djokovic.
What vocal .he simply said the rules are rules and everyone had to get vaccinated to play and this was known ..he has been saying this from the begining
He was asked his opinion and he gave it!
Nadal will be lucky to make the semis.
He can even go out in first week or make the final ..depends on his form and return to 5 set demand of body . Ofcourse also on the draw
If he gets lucky with the draw who knows
But u gotta hand it to Djokovic. He is prepared to fight. I doubt anyone else would have approached the court challenging the decision
I would have been surprised if he had the decency to accept that he messed up.
Few people would have tried to pull this off to start with, but I’m sure that whoever is willing to put on this show will go all the way.
Right now he’s risking to be banned from Australia basically until his career ends (3 years). Maybe that’s why he’s afraid of losing the visa.
Any chance the court overruled the border force and govmt for an outsider ? I doubt but if they gave him time till Monday and his lawyers time till Saturday ,I’m not sure what to expect ..is the govmt willing to have an egg on its face if the court overrules..n if the court overruled what will the Australian public do and react to it
I predict a 1/4 final exit.
God you are a pain..
This has turned into a Carry On film.
For those Non Brits who haven’t seen them they are slapstick comedies where everyone is laughably incompetent..
I expect others have read that the paperwork he brought supporting the exemption was absolutely minimal and only from one doctor. In other words it was simply inadequate as evidence. When asked for more, nothing was forthcoming.
Apparently the other 2 players , who are now also being investigated, brought substantive paperwork supported by 2 doctors so it was way more credible.
It really looks like Novax should never have been given the exemption in the first place. You have to wonder if the one doctor’s statement was just a fake given the supporting evidence was so flimsy.
Apparently Novax is the leader of the free world fighting in support of poor and oppressed people.
Who knew?
His father really needs to shut up. The more of this that is said the more dislike of Novax will grow.
People will say that the son is like the father and full of self deceiving arrogant BS.
come on Cristina P and Amy
The Nadal fans are having a field day…Novax is fast becoming a martyr -but maybe we all need to calm down – cup of tea anyone?
Djokovic: Covid infection gave him vaccine exemption, lawyers say
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-59920379
It seems Djokovic intentionally got infected; so he could get an exemption. He gamed the system, and that’s what this is all about. The Australian/Victorian Government are not happy that he tried to game the system.
Getting invected places others at a greater risk which is irresponsible.
He got infected then got the exemption and then started training a week or so after.