Victorian Prime Minister Daniel Andrews closes door for unvaccinated tennis players to Australian Open 2022

Victorian Prime Minister Daniel Andrews has closed the door on unvaccinated tennis players taking part in the Australian Open as the federal government has approved its “full 180” border rules.

One week after Immigration Minister Alex Hawke announced that unvaccinated players would be banned from entering the country, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the exceptions for access to this group remain in place.

But Andrews has drawn a line in the sand to announce that his government is not going to seek exemptions or allow unvaccinated players to play in a tournament where all other employees and fans are vaccinated.

“The federal government controls the border and to the extent that everything the federal government says about this is clear because their position has deviated by 180 from what the immigration minister said,” Andrews told reporters on Wednesday.

“What I’m doing just as clearly for every vaccinated Victorian who does the right thing … the only fair thing is to be very clear to every Victorian, my government isn’t going to seek an exemption for any non-vaccinated player.”

Andrews said the government must seek exemptions for vaccinated players because the number exceeds the ceiling.

But he said it wouldn’t be very fair for vaccinated Victorians and tennis fans to allow unvaccinated players to come to Melbourne Park to play.

“I’m not going to ask and actually demand people sitting in the auditorium, people working at the event to be vaccinated when the players aren’t,” Andrews said.

“So we’re not going to apply for an exemption, so the problem is basically solved.”

Tennis authorities have never released vaccination rates, with estimates ranging from 50 percent to nearly 80, assuming players waited for the end of the season to get an injection.

Novak Djokovic, world number one and Daniil Medvedev, world number one who played in the finals of this year’s Australian Open and US Open, have refused to reveal their position.

Djokovic in particular has been on the fence about vaccinating or coming to Australia if hard quarantine is required.

“To be honest, I’m not particularly worried (about the tennis setback),” Andrews said.

“I’m not going to help them come here. They don’t have to come here, it’s not forced.”

The Prime Minister announced that he will take the same approach when Formula 1 returns to Melbourne in April 2022.