The strange saga of Novak Djokovic’s Australian Open COVID ban is not over yet

Controversy has been a regular part of Novak Djokovic’s experience since he rose to the top of tennis more than a decade ago, and the Serbian superstar is once again raising headlines for his off-field behavior at the Australian Open. Djokovic, who refused to be vaccinated against COVID-19, was arrested on arrival in Australia on 5 January and his visa was revoked. The subsequent battle over whether he will play in the first Grand Slam of the year has been fraught with twists and turns usually reserved for an epic five-round match.

On December 30th, Djokovic was received medical exemption to participate in the Australian Open by its governing body, Tennis Australia, which is the only way an unvaccinated athlete should be allowed to play subject to the country’s strict vaccination rules. But when he arrived in Australia, the federal government revoked this visa because he is unvaccinated, as he admitted in interview with Australian border forces last thursday. Djokovic also explained in that interview that he had shown a positive COVID test twice, once in June 2020 and then again on 16.12.2021.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison even found himself in a situation by tweeting, “Mr. Djokovic’s visa has been revoked. The rules are the rules, especially when it comes to our borders. No one is above those rules.” The Omicron variant has spread rapidly across the country, and Djokovic ‘s situation has provoked rage in pro – and anti – vaccine groups.

Subsequent reports have found that Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt delivered an opinion On November 29, Craig Tiley, CEO of Tennis Australia, found that unvaccinated players could not use the fact that they had COVID-19 in the last six months as a valid reason to enter the country under the medical exemption.

According to CNN’s timeline From Djokovic’s Plus last year, he attended a tennis event for young people on the 17th before he knew he had a positive result. But after receiving the result, he still decided to do a personal interview on the 18th before the test result was negative on the 22nd.

Things are hard to keep track of here. Djokovic stated on the official visa form that he had not traveled for two weeks before his trip to Australia, but it turned out that he had moved between Serbia and Spain. But in a January 11 Instagram post, he wrote that his agent made an “administrative error by ticking the wrong box from my previous trip before coming to Australia”. He continued, “This was a human error, and not really intentional.”

Djokovic and his team filed a complaint, which led to a hearing on January 10th. His situation also drew attention to the treatment of asylum seekers in Australia during the Morrison administration. Several people who had spent time at the Park Hotel where the tennis star was placed told the BBC poor, depressing conditions, and inedible food that sometimes contained larvae. Morrison is on the far right on immigration critics of his policies have referred to his treatment of Djokovic in this context.