Miomir Kecmanovic, compatriot of number one, will be his first opponent.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison says the head of Immigration is still considering canceling the player’s visa.
Nadal could be the Serb’s rival in the semifinals if Djokovic finally plays the tournament.
Alex hawke, Minister of Immigration, will not make any decision on Thursday about the possible cancellation of Novak Djokovic’s visa, government sources quoted by ‘The Age’, a Melbourne newspaper, said. “It is his competence. The immigration minister is still considering the cancellation of the visa,” said Scott Morrison, prime minister, to questions from journalists after a press conference in which he reported on the new measures taken in the oceanic country to combat the advance of the omicron.
At the same time, the organizers of the Australian Open, included this Thursday the Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic in the draw that was held at dawn in Spain with an hour delay, possibly waiting to hear about the world’s number one. It was his luck to face his compatriot Miomir kecmanovic, whose best classification, reached in 2019, has been the 58th position in the world ranking.
Nadal’s rival
In the raffle Rafael Nadal fell in the same part of the box Djokovic Therefore, if both continue in competition, they would meet in the semifinals. In the event that the world number 1 was suspended by the Australian government, the tournament organization should relocate the 32 seeds, the 32 seeds should be relocated, including Nadal (6), Roberto Bautista (15), Pablo Carreño (19) and Carlos Alcaraz (31), but if the order of play of the first day was already made in the position of the Serbian tennis player, a player from the previous phase would enter. .
At the moment Nadal will debut against the American Marcos Giron. Due to the absence of the Balearic in the last phase of last season, due to his foot injury, he fell to sixth place in the ATP classification so it was a risk, as it has happened, that he faced the Serbian before the final.
But the big question, which will have to wait one more day, is to know if finally Djokovic will be able to participate in the Australian Open. The local press expected the prime minister to say something more specific in his appearance. In fact, the first questions turned more towards the future of the Serbian tennis player than towards the pandemic situation of the country with a constant trickle of infected Australians. This Thursday, in the state of Victoria, whose capital is Melbourne, there were more than 37,000 new cases with almost a thousand people hospitalized.
Case study
But nevertheless, Morrison was clear in assuring, or at least that is what he told Australian journalists, that he was not going to interfere in the decision made by his minister Hawke in whose hands is the most immediate sporting future of Djokovic. The draw ensures rival but not the presence in the tournament.
Hawke and his advisers are studying the certificate that Djokovic presented at Melbourne airport passport control after doubts were raised as to whether or not it was authentic. Likewise, it is considered whether there are sufficient reasons to cancel the visa after not informing the player that he spent a few days off in Andalusia to celebrate the New Year, which Djokovic attributed to “human error”. This last situation also causes a problem for the Spanish authorities since if it were confirmed that the date of the positive PCR of the tennis player is after December 16, then he could not have entered Spain. The New York Times and Der Spiegel attribute the date of the positive to December 26.
Related news
Meanwhile, Djokovic continues to prepare its participation in the Australian Open, which begins on Monday, with apparent normality, a tournament that is also being affected by anticovid restrictions. Thus, this Thursday, according to Efe, the Government of Victoria decided reduce by 50% Melbourne Park capacity. “This news for the Australian Open means that fans, players and workers can look forward to an incredible event in terms of measures against covid-19 & rdquor;” explained the Acting Minister of Tourism. Jaala pulford. It will therefore be the second consecutive year that the Australian ‘major’ reduces its capacity as a result of the pandemic.
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