Djokovic isolated in Melbourne until Monday with appeal in the works

Novak Djokovic will still be in Melbourne next Monday. Now the question is: will he still be in Melbourne the Monday after that?

Djokovic was initially scheduled to be deported out of Australia on Thursday after he was denied entry upon his arrival at the Melbourne airport on Wednesday night. The nine-time Australian Open champion failed to provide a valid excuse for being unvaccinated, and there was also a mixup with his visa application. Djokovic’s visa was promptly canceled by Australian authorities.

“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.”

Djokovic is, in fact, appealing. His legal team will file an injunction to allow the world No. 1 to stay in Australia and compete in the season’s first Grand Slam — which begins on Jan. 17. The hearing in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia has been adjourned until Monday, Jan. 10 as Djokovic’s team prepares the necessary paperwork.

Thinking he was good to go for the Aussie Open after receiving a medical exemption from tournament officials earlier this week, Djokovic flew to Melbourne along with the rest of his team. Government officials, however, had other ideas.

Following a full night of unsuccessful negotiations at the Melbourne airport on Wednesday, 34-year-old Serb was transported to the Park Hotel — which is being used as an immigration detention center. He will remain there until Monday’s legal proceedings.

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34 Comments on Djokovic isolated in Melbourne until Monday with appeal in the works

  1. Djokovic has posted he will compete at the AO and posted a pic from RLA itself tonight. have to hand it to him.

    I seriously don’t think the Australia govmt will now do anything..djokovic will be playing with an intent and purpose now..n are the draws open for all to see? Else the slimy tiley will surely try to cook some favors for all the agony caused to him

  2. That’s a very restrained description of the loathsome fascist.
    A man who has had more airtime at the BBC than almost anyone and whose fascist comment s eg ‘ the real problem in America is the Jews ‘ are never reported by them.
    Good for Andy.
    Same as with Farage’s applauding Raducanu when she won when he has spent years saying he wouldn’t live next door to anyone Romanian..
    Ps that was me above.

        • Still too polite!
          God I hate Farage..
          PS long live king Andy!😀
          How far do you see him going at the AO Margot? I don’t know what to make of Andy’s comments that he is on the verge of a big breakthrough. I believe him but then he goes and loses to jouneymen…😕😕

  3. So how many here giving Novak the slam 21 at ao? I think he is the favorite especially if zverev is on other side with med ( which i think he will be)

    • I dont think he’s favorite. If he plays well, I give him about the same chance as Medvedev and Zverev.

      Those two just need to believe in themselves and maker it physical.

  4. The only logical and fair outcome is to cancel his visa like they did for Voracova. Novax only “won” this because of the incompetence of the border police and probably thanks to some internal political games.

    Normally this should be far from over; nothing seems simpler than to demonstrate that Novax either produced fake medical documents (most likely) or he’s a guy who’s knowingly infecting people (including children!) with Covid-19. Still, the situation seemed crystal clear even before: he doesn’t have the right to enter Australia under the circumstances (no vaccine, no valid Covid-19 exemption).

    Right now Novax is risking his GS tally, because if his visa is cancelled again he will miss this and the next 3 AOs. He could have left on his own after winning this. Okay he somehow got a visa he wasn’t entitled to (how he got it is another story which may or may not be disclosed to the public). Even if it wasn’t his fault, it’s like the bank accidentally puts $10M in your bank account – you still need to give them back. I doubt that they would have chased him if he left.

    What the public understands from this: if you’re rich and you can afford the right lawyers, you can do pretty much what you want.

    Hopefully the Australian government is just making sure that they cancel his visa again, this time by the book and without leaving any loopholes. I’m not holding my breath though, it looks like they are a bunch of gutless incompetents.

  5. Anyone else seen the footage of Novax’s brother smirking and shutting the conference down when asked why Novax was out maskless and surrounded by people on the 17th?
    He self isolated when he got covid before! This whole story is still extraordinarily fishy. The central point for me is what was he relying on to get into the tourney if he genuinely didn’t know he was going to catch covid at this singularly late date after he had applied for the visa?! It’s all so implausible…

    • Like his father, his brother seems immensely dislikable. I seem to recall he headed the genius move to have Novax work with Pepe. It’s a good time to bring Pepe back..!😀
      Also, talking of smirking, I really can’t stand a moment more of Grinning Goran and his idiotic comments…

    • Yes seen and ben Rothenberg has tweeted abt it . Djorde clearly stopped as he did not want to get stuck. However the way he adjourned seems to have created issue now and made it a talking point .

      Plus side is they know it will be asked and will spin a story around it and iron out all loose ends

  6. Gonna repeat my question further up the thread.
    Can anyone ( Margot, Sanju) see Alcaraz taking out a top seed in the third round? Or still too early for him?

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