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.
how will it end?
Will the court overrule its own border force and govmt ?
HILARIOUSLY FUNNY!
Seems incredibly unlikely that Australian Court would Overrule their own government and customs.
Really hoping other Majors follow suit and their respective governments deny Djokovic access.
Anti-Vaccination idiots are causing harm to the entire world. Idiots may be a harsh word but it applies.
Next: Djokovic v Australia: The Movie
Coming Soon to a YouTube near you.
Anyone else read his family’s rants?!
Novax is Spartacus! Also Christ! They are trying to crucify him because, I kid you not, the West is jealous he is the greatest!
Also, Novax is a human being but the people in gov are not.
Novax himself has said he is on a higher moral and spiritual plane where God sees everything .
Dearie me!
Yeah, their insanity is nothing new, sadly. Really NoVax isn’t that bad when you look at his parents. The martyr complex kinda fits him, doesn’t it? World #1, GOAT in waiting and sad sack, all in one.
This furore has reached everywhere. It’s even in the Graun political opinion column today.
I just looked at the comments and almost all are vitriolic and unsympathetic towards Novaxx. Some of these are coming from people who happen to be Novaxx fans so he is alienating a huge range of people.
Everyone approves of Rafa’s comments and he is being quoted approvingly.😀😀😀😀
This is a politics page so it gives you a good idea of public opinion as there are no fan groups at all just ordinary people.
His father really is an awful human being.
Not his fans amy..his fans are tearing Rafa apart. I wonder what Rafa said that pisses them off. He said the same consistent thing that he has been from begining.
His fans are also pissed that no tennis player has said a word about this except Paul mcnamee and feli. Their grouse is he always stood for his colleagues eg zverev n tsitsipas n all are silent now and behaving like snakes .
His fans on Twitter are giving the impression that the whole world is upset at the decision 🙂 read tweets of pavyg.
Btw they claiming another very high profile tennis player is in with same exemptions , god knows who is it
This is absurd. If Djokovic kills someone, the other tennis players should support him? He’s obviously doing something wrong here, so I guess that others keeping quiet about this is as much support as they can offer.
You misunderstand me sanju..these are just ordinary people some of whom like Novax, they are not paid up members of Nole Farm. Nole Farm are, generally speaking, borderline insane and prone to the hysterical victim mentality Ramara describes.
A doubles player admitted on the same exemption as Novax has now been detained.
Did Novax even have covid in the last 6 months,or did they just make it up? Sounds pretty dodgy to me.
I blame a lot of this on Tiley. He made remarks earlier which basically sounded like he would fix it for Novax. He may well have intimated this to Novax and his agents, even if he didn’t spell it out word for word, which is why they have been so slapdash.
But nonetheless the lack of imagination from Novax as to how this would go down with the public is astonishing. If he hadn’t sent those ridiculous self congratulatory messages out this might not have exploded in his face in quite the same way. It does show a level of enormous self absorption on his part..
Tiley also should have realised how this was going to play out.
Rafa has it right: Joker made his decision….now he has to live with the consequences.
Thanks for reminding us. He is a joker.
Yeah ,its as great moral victory over Novax – a lot of fair criticism- his detractors are loving it and its not even a thing to do with tennis
It has all gotten quite political at this point. The court overruling its own border force and government wouldn’t be a problem, deciding against public opinion would be tricky to say the least.
I am not an expert on law, but I believe that the court won’t necessarily judge whether “Novax” (well said) is entitled to a medical exemption. That could actually be a lengthy process. They will rather judge whether the border force, based on what he provided at the border, had legal support to ban him from entering the country (because his exemption was not solid enough) or cancel his visa.
A balanced measure would be to send him home until he is vaccinated or gets a proper exemption but not cancel his visa. He can always claim that the good doctor fooled him that he can’t get vaccinated. However improper use of the visa (i.e. without vaccination certificate) may be enough reason to cancel it.
I also believe that Australian courts judge based on precedent, which means that whatever they decide now will basically apply to any other similar case in the future. They can’t really afford to do “Novax” any favours.
This also means that if some other rebellious random bloke already tried this stunt before (unbeknownst to the media), whatever they decided then will apply to “Novax” as well. I would actually be surprised if he’s the first.
What I don’t fully understand is the part where he has the wrong visa for vaccination exempted people. This means that even if they don’t cancel his current visa he can’t use it anyway and needs a new one. AFAIK that’s not possible to obtain in place, so he needs to get back home and apply for another visa – I guess they will be in a hurry to grant it after all of this.
It has all gotten quite political at this point. The court overruling its own border force and government wouldn’t be a problem, deciding against public opinion would be tricky to say the least.
I am not an expert on law, but I believe that the court won’t necessarily judge whether “Novax” (well said) is entitled to a medical exemption. That could actually be a lengthy process. They will rather judge whether the border force, based on what he provided at the border, had legal support to ban him from entering the country (because his exemption was not solid enough) or cancel his visa
A balanced measure would be to send him home until he is vaccinated or gets a proper exemption but not cancel his visa. He can always claim that the good doctor fooled him that he can’t get vaccinated. However improper use of the visa (i.e. without vaccination certificate) may be enough reason to cancel it.
I also believe that Australian courts judge based on precedent, which means that whatever they decide now will basically apply to any other similar case in the future. They can’t really afford to do “Novax” any favours.
This also means that if some other rebellious random dude already tried this stunt before (unbeknownst to the media), whatever they decided then will apply to “Novax” as well. I would actually be surprised if he’s the first.
What I don’t fully understand is the part where he has the wrong visa for vaccination exempted people. This means that even if they don’t cancel his current visa he can’t use it anyway and needs a new one. AFAIK that’s not possible to obtain in place, so he needs to get back home and apply for another visa – I guess they will be in a hurry to grant it after all of this.
The full story is already out there. He received an exemption (after being advised by TA and Craig Tiley that this would be fine) by getting a doctor to write a letter saying he had Covid in the last six months. He was unable to produce lab results according to reports — but even if he did, having Covid 6 months prior is not a proper exemption for vaccination anyway (you and I can’t get into Australia with that.) Unless he has some additional supporting documents on Monday it doesn’t look great. Clearly Tennis Australia’s authority does not and cannot supersede the Border Patrol, an instrument of the government — I doubt that will even be argued.
Exactly where did he have covid in last 6 months..he had in june2020.
N tiles is clearly getting the boot
I would not be surprised if he got it again recently. This happened to others as well (Benoit Paire complained about this). However, I don’t see what relevance it has whether he can actually prove that he had Covid-19 recently or whether he actually has other reasons to get a vaccine exemption.
He tried to enter Australia using a dubious proof that he had Covid-19 in the last 6 months when he actually needed a vaccination proof (and nothing else) to enter using his visa.
If I get this right, he is now trying to get a totally different type of exemption and a different type of visa while at the border – I doubt that it can happen.
He could enter using covid proof if 6 month window was told by TA but the issue here is supposedly he has no lab results to prove it and certification of just 1 doc
This isn’t accepted by the federal government. He can argue that he was brought here under false circumstances by assurances by TA. But he didn’t have the documentation to support the exemption anyway.
The point many don’t understand is that he has to bring the paperwork to support the exemption on arrival. If he doesn’t then his visa is invalidated. And he didn’t have the paperwork.
I don’t see how he gets around this…
Where is this story that he got a doc to write it and had no lab results
His whole family were in on it.
UK PM saying Australia doing the right thing .so will Wimbledon enforce vaccination?
I really doubt the judge will go against its own border force because it will then make the ABF look real bad in front of the world and as long as the ABF can substantiate against djoko lack of evidence, he cannot win this. However I think no 3 year ban will be imposed on him.
But just imagine if judge let’s Novak compete, his fans will go berserk 🙂
And imagine if as a result, all the tennis players call foul and decide to boycott AO?! Bcoz they feel they followed protocol and got vaccinated and Novak circumvents and gets to play!! Who then will he play against?!
This whole thing started with allowing ppl to over each their feeling of entitlement!!! Y was Novak allowed the exemption in the first place?! Y didn’t Novak and his team think this through given his stance and the political charge that surrounds this whole Covid-19 pandemic?! If Novak is allowed to compete there will be tremendous pressure on him to win this thing and I think it will be his own undoing! As much as ppl feel he performs well under pressure I’m afraid this time it will be way too much for him! I am not even sure if I’m looking forward to this AO now! It’s whole thing is such a bummer!!
In Novak’s quest to be great he has single handedly managed to taint his own legacy!
Roger and the other tennis players are not commenting. Y should they? Novak got himself in this entire pickle!! He made a choice to not get vaccinated so then accept the consequences!! U can’t have ure cake and eat it! However, I am not quite sure I agree with the 3 yr ban, if he is vaccinated then he should be allowed to play if that’s the rule!
It looks now that it’s not entirely “Novax”’ fault; apparently there is disagreement between Australian local authorities and federal authorities regarding exemptions. He was probably assured by tournament officials that he wouldn’t have any problems at the border. I hope that the Australian culprits will be prosecuted as well.
That being said, Djoker has a whole team behind him and they should have made sure that everything is okay. It almost looks like he waited to see if players with similar exemptions can get in – and at least one did. In any case, this circus is on him, he could just have left and get retribution from home.
Like I said before, I’m pretty sure that if he hadn’t create this fuss he might have been able to get in – the border police would not have risked to create problems without being certain that the government has their back. Now, I can’t say that this wouldn’t have blown anyway since Australians most likely would have investigated how he managed to get in.
For now, all Novax managed to do is to get Voracova deported as well. It really looks like the federal government is not going to lose Monday’s trial.
I think based on today’s legal filing ..check Ben rothenbergs tweets for details ..I think he will be given benefit of doubt and allowed to play
But that will really mean an egg on the PM and border security force and will the court want that ?
https://mobile.twitter.com/BenRothenberg/status/1479730371679850500
It says he got Covid on dec 16. The past date for exemption was dec 10. If he got Covid on dec 16, he was still in all functions on Dec 16 n 17 moreso with kids ..
Something is just not adding up here
Read Ben’s tweets and he hasuploaded the whole legal filing too document.
The third part of Djokovic claiming he received mail from home affairs that he is eligible for quarantine free travel is not understandable to me
Here is the entire filing if anyone keen to read
https://mobile.twitter.com/BenRothenberg/status/1479752262876483586
Djokovic is claiming dec 16 as Covid date when all exemptions were due till dec 10. Who is even advising him ? Dec 16 as date of Covid and same day n next day all event pics..
https://mobile.twitter.com/SuryaSarav_/status/1479771808089837569/photo/1
It is staggering to believe that Tiley, a tournament director, could overrule Prime Minister Morrison. According to cnn.com, “Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters Thursday that Tennis Australia was advised in a letter as far back as November 2021 that unvaccinated players with a recent Covid-19 infection would not be allowed to enter the country.”
“ND’s first COVID-positive PCR test was recorded on December 16, 2021, and after not showing signs of a fever or “respiratory symptoms” he applied for a medical exemption to compete in the Australian Open, according to the [appeal] document.
Perfect timing for him to become infected, again? Do ya think?
If he got Covid in Decemberthen why didn’t he tell everyone like Rafa, Raducanu, Jabeur, Bencic, Shaps and everyone else who got it in Abu Dhabi did?
They all went and isolated while Novax was charging around maskless at public events shaking everyone by the hand, including children. What kind of behaviour is that!?
And the cut off date was December 10 so how could he be relying on a positive test after the cut off date?
His behaviour is absurd. It’s impossible to know what is true with him and what isn’t.
But if you make the simple comparison with the other players catching it in December then he might as well be on another planet…
As for the legal ins and outs who knows? We are not lawyers and he will have hired the best. It’s entirely possible the court will rule for him. That’s what judicial review is there for and they often overrule the government.
Do they ? Are they not appointed by the govmt itself. They will go against their own border force for an outsider ?
I don’t agree that courts go against their govmt overruling them ,that too for a non citizen ?
Sanju, the judges are independent, they will find due to legal precedent. Judicial review is based on the British model. The entire point is that it is impartial. Judicial review regularly finds against the government and it doesn’t matter if Novax is, or is not, a citizen. The entire point is impartiality before the law. The question is entirely bound by legal precedent.
Meant to be independent but appointed by ruling party isn’t it
The state will also hire the best , won’t they ? The state has to file tomorrow ,so they know what novaks team has filed