The in-again out-again saga of Novak Djokovic and the 2022 Australian Open took another severe–but not unexpected turn–on Friday.
After temporarily having his Australian visa reinstated by judge Anthony Kelly earlier this week, it was canceled again on Friday afternoon by immigration minister Alex Hawke.
Per Hawke himself, Djokovic’s visa was cancelled based on “health and good order grounds, on the basis that it was in the public interest to do so.” Hawke’s statement added that Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s government “is firmly committed to protecting Australia’s borders, particularly in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
“This pandemic has been incredibly difficult for every Australian, but we have stuck together and saved lives and livelihoods,” Morris added. “Australians have made many sacrifices during this pandemic, and they rightly expect the result of those sacrifices to be protected. This is what the minister is doing in taking this action today.”
Djokovic’s lawyers are once again appealing. They won their first case, but it is widely expected to be more difficult to sway judge Kelly this time around.
If the world No. 1’s appeal is rejected on Sunday, deportation proceedings will begin on Monday — the same day the Australian Open begins and Djokovic is scheduled to play his first-round match in the top half of the draw.
Djoko loses his case and will be deported. See, isn’t it better that he withdraws and leaves Australia instead of fighting to stay? He may now face a three year ban (from entering Australia)! Perhaps the court will make an exception and lift the ban, if not it will be too harsh a punishment for Djoko.
Not really, he took the risk and new the potential consequences of his actions. Djoko is very knowledgeable when it comes to the law.
Lucky,
You are right. Novak should have done the right thing and withdraw voluntarily. We don’t know if they will enforce a three year ban. The most important thing was to get him out of there now.
Novak brought this on himself. He knew what the facts were. He knew he traveled before he came to Australia. It is his responsibility to make sure his visa is filled out properly.
I want to say one more thing that I believe is important. This is not about anyone’s personal freedom. It is about getting vaccinated so that you don’t spread the virus. We can’t smoke in restaurants or on planes.Why? Because smoking causes lung cancer. Children must be in a car seat in automobiles. We have to wear seat belts and observe the speed limit. There is no such thing as absolute freedom.
My generation was the first to get the polio vaccine. We all got it in school. There was no nonsense about not getting it. My parents had to grow up with the fear of polio. I remember my mother telling me how my grandmother put camphor around the necks of my mother and aunt when they were young. Old wives tales. That is what they had. There are pictures of children in iron lungs. Many died or were left paralyzed. The vaccine eradicated polio. Vaccines eradicated small pox and measles.
Vaccines have been the key to ridding the wired of terrible diseases that kill. Ignorance and misinformation and flat out lies and conspiracy theories have created doubt. It is unfortunate that so many have dyed when they could have been saved.
Ridding the WORLD
Precisely!! I say SM has been the death nail of society! We say education can only make a wise man wiser and an fool more foolish! SM has quadrupled that possibility!! We have so many armchair critics of everything, no wonder we have not yet invented the stairway to heaven yet, sigh!!
Mona,
You said it! Only now are sites like facebook and Twitter starting to crack down on some of the craziness. It is positively toxic. People are eating dirt to get rid of Covid? The insanity of conspiracy theories is out of control.
Vaccines have helped to get rid of terrible diseases. Health experts are beside themselves as they watch people die needlessly rather than get vaccinated.
Seeing people fighting over having to wear masks on planes, makes me sick. When did people start acting like overgrown babies? Assaulting stewardesses on planes? It is a disgrace.
Then we have Republican governors like DeSantis here in Florida, who are touting the state for its freedom. Oh yeah! Freedom to come here and die of Covid!
How’s the Serbian President; best bulll shit artists on the planet. They actually believe the shit they dribble.
A big reminder that a huge amount of the world is biased and inherently dishonest. That’s probably the big lesson out of this.
Posting here after a while. Hope everyone is well. So, Novak could have a career slam of deportations and deflaults??
Just needs the French and Wimbledon. He is closest to it than anyone else. Should put it in his GOAT CV.
hello Atul!
Hello Vr. Hope all is well with you and your family.
lol! I believe NoVax is also close to the retirement slam – I know he’s retired from both RG and Wimbly. Not sure about AO and USO. If he really insists on his no vax policy he may be retired from tennis soon, the way things are going with covid.
he has come close at the French before
Hello Atul,
They said that he will have problems in New York at the USO. A basketball player refused to get the vaccine and he can’t play at home games. There are laws in New York about being vaccinated.
I don’t know how the French Open will handle it. Or Wimbledon. The way things are going, Novak’s anti vaccine position will become more untenable.
French sports minister has said France just needs neg pcr test and some quarantine , no vaccination mandatory. So RG us green . I read Europe may do away itself with mandatory vaccines .
Wimpy not sure . As of now nyork is ruled out.
However I don’t think we have heard the last of this. Novak has said he won’t say anything till AO ends ,maybe part 2 coming next.
So a lucky loser replaces Novak in the draw. Can anyone stop Zverev and Medvedev?
For Rafa, I think his draw is very tough and he’ll be tested by an in-form Kokkinakis who is likely to win a set. The real test is then Hurkacz (assuming they both get there) and then of course Sacha would be the ultimate test. You We can expect Rafa to reach the final if he reaches the semi and you never know in the final. I think game wise his toughest challenge is Zverev.
Hard to have expectations but there is of course some hope. I am glad he played those 3 matches in Melbourne and has been practicing well!
VR,
You are somewhat more optimistic than I am. I guess I don’t want to get my hopes up. Can Rafa play himself into form? I don’t know. He has an ugly draw. If he had not been off for six months then maybe. But best of five set matches are tough after a long layoff.
I am not that familiar with this guy Hurkacz. I have been hearing about him. I am just going to take it one match at a time and be grateful that he is playing again.
NNY, sent you sn email but not sure it went through?
VR,
I checked and I didn’t get it. It has not changed since we emailed in the last. Maybe I should check my spam or junk folder.
VR,
it was in my junk email. I marked it as not junk but now I can’t find it. Try again. Now it should go through.
VR,
I did get it. But I have been having trouble with my email for a while. I can get it but can’t reply. I have to call my email provider. It’s a password problem that they have to fix. I couldn’t deal with it because I was moving. Now I can deal with it.
I will let you knit when it has been fixed. At least you know that once I get it fixed, you can email me.
Well, the Djokovic-Aussie saga is finally over for this year! I am thankful for that. I love my drama but this was waaaayyyyy too much. No heroes in this saga. Black eyes for everyone involved.
As for the 3 year ban, who knows? It will depend on the state of the pandemic, I think. Maybe NoVax will finally get vaxxed if it comes down to it. Maybe he would have this time if Tiley hadn’t encouraged him to believe he could sneak by. NoVax won’t tell, so we’ll never know.
Tiley should now do the decent thing and resign. He is behind all this. They should never have broken their own deadline for exemptions on the 10 December for a start.
It’s hard not to believe he basically gave Novax the nod and the wink.
Yes. It’s not all Novaxs .He should never have travelled to Australia in the first place.This fiasco should never have happened
The only other person who has blame besides Novak, is this guy Tiley. I guess he wanted to find a way for Novak to play. Novak should never have been allowed in the country. Then this circus could have been avoided.
Absolutely, Tiley has a lot to answer for and don’t think we’ve heard the end of this as far as he”s concerned.
The Grateful Dead summed it all up in their classic song, “He’s Gone”.
That’s what I feel!! If they had followed and abided by the rules and Not try to circumvent, this whole tennis circus would not have occurred! The worse thing is when ppl feel they’re entitled!!!it gets nasty!!