Melbourne (AP) – The objection of the Serbian tennis professional Novak Djokovic against the refusal of his entry to Australia has been granted. That was decided by a court in Melbourne.
What consequences this has for the defending champion’s participation in the Australian Open, which starts in a week, was initially unclear. The government had already announced before the negotiation that it would consider further steps to continue denying Djokovic the visa if the entry refusal was lifted. This was confirmed by the government attorney Christopher Tran at the end of the trial.
According to media reports, Immigration Minister Alex Hawke has four hours to exercise his personal right to have his visa revoked. It will be discussed whether he wants to do this. Djokovic, who would then be threatened with being refused entry to Australia for the next three years, could also take action against this. So it is still open whether he can really defend his title at the first Grand Slam tournament of the year.
Djokovic with first partial success
At least he achieved a first important victory in the Commonwealth Law Courts Building in Melbourne on Monday. First of all, Djokovic was allowed to leave the deportation hotel where he had been for the past few days and got his personal belongings and papers back, as ordered by judge Anthony Kelly.
Kelly had said in the first part of the hearing on Monday, in which Djokovic’s lawyers presented their views, that he considered the behavior of the authorities to be disproportionate. “What more could this man have done?” Kelly had said.
The Djokovic case has been causing a stir far beyond the tennis scene for days. The 34-year-old was refused entry at Melbourne Airport on Wednesday evening (local time). From the point of view of the authorities, he was unable to present the necessary documents for a medical exemption to be allowed to enter the country without a corona vaccination.
The course of events after the arrival at the airport contributed to the decision to grant the tennis star’s appeal, as Kelly made clear. At 5.20 a.m. last Thursday morning, Djokovic was informed that he had until 8.30 a.m. to comment on the cancellation of the visa. He was asked from 6:14 a.m., the decision was made at 7:42 a.m. – too early.
Djokovic was taken to a hotel for people obliged to leave the country. The Serb appealed against the decision. According to court documents, Djokovic’s side said that he received a waiver on December 30th from the medical director of the Australian Tennis Federation.
Vaccination status has been an issue for months
A positive corona test from December 2021 should help him participate in the Australian Open. The court documents indicate that Djokovic is said to have tested positive for the corona virus for the second time on December 16, 2021. However, there were a number of inconsistencies. For the first time, the exceptional tennis player tested positive for the corona virus during his heavily criticized Adria Tour in June 2020.
Even before the trouble about entering Australia, his vaccination status had been a topic of discussion for months. The tennis professional had made it a secret and called the status a private matter, but this has now been clarified. The court documents show that Djokovic stated when questioned by an Australian Border Guard officer that he was “not vaccinated against Covid-19”.
The Australian Open will be held from January 17th to 30th. Djokovic has won the tournament nine times – more often than anyone else. He is aiming for his 21st Grand Slam title. This would leave him behind his rivals Rafael Nadal from Spain and Roger Federer from Switzerland and become the sole Grand Slam record tournament winner.
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