Djokovic, who has not been vaccinated against the corona virus, thought he could participate in Melbourne on the basis of a medical exemption. However, the judge decided otherwise after a long legal battle.
Several tennis players expressed their frustration at the attention the number one in the world received last week. Rafael Nadal, Stéfanos Tsitsipás and Emma Raducanu, among others, argued that due to the soap opera surrounding the Serb’s visa, too little attention was paid to performance on the track.
“As an Australian tennis family, we recognize that recent events have been a major distraction for everyone. We deeply regret the impact this has had on all players,” said the Australian Open organizers, without naming Djokovic. “We will include this in our evaluation.”