Novak Djokovic does not give up: banned from entering Australia for health reasons, he believes he can be exempted from vaccination, because he contracted COVID-19 in December, and asked on Saturday to be able to leave the Melbourne detention center in order to ” be able to train.
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“The date of the first positive COVID PCR test was recorded on December 16, 2021,” which would benefit the world number one from an exemption from vaccination imposed by Australia, the 34-year-old’s lawyers said in a document filed with federal court. His appeal is due to be considered on Monday.
Time is running out with just over a week of the Australian Open which Djokovic has won nine times and where he aims to win his 21st Grand Slam tournament, which would place him at the top of tennis history, ahead of his two historic rivals, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
His lawyers have also asked that he be able to leave the Melbourne detention center in order to be able to train.
Djokovic posted a photo of himself at an airport earlier this week, announcing his departure for Australia and explaining that he had obtained a medical exemption, which tournament management had confirmed.
But on his arrival on the night of Wednesday to Thursday, the authorities had refused him entry, believing that his grounds for exemption did not meet the strict conditions for entry into the territory imposed as part of the fight against COVID. -19.
His lawyers denounced the fact that the player was then detained for eight hours, without being able to communicate.
In a video which leaked Friday in the local press, the boss of the Australian Federation Craig Tiley, under the fire of the critics for his management of the file, defended the “incredible work” of his teams.
The Federation has been accused of misleading players about COVID-19 vaccination obligations to enter the country.
In a note to players published by several Australian media, the organization assured that a person who recently contracted COVID-19 could benefit from an exemption from the obligation to be fully vaccinated. Novak Djokovic has always refused to communicate on his vaccination status, while not concealing his hostility to vaccination.
The Australian government has assured to have warned Tennis Australia in November that this provision was only valid for Australian residents, not for foreign citizens wishing to enter the country.
Another player, Czech Renata Voracova, was placed in the same detention center as Novak Djokovic after also having her visa canceled.
“They bring me food and there is a guard in the hallway. Everything is rationed. I feel a bit like in prison, ”this 38-year-old doubles specialist told the Czech press.
The boss of Tennis Australia explains that the Federation has chosen not to speak publicly because of the appeal of Djokovic who Friday, for his first reaction, thanked in a short message on social networks his supporters around the world, as well than “God for health”.
In Serbia, the treatment inflicted on the idol of the whole country aroused the indignation and intervention of President Aleksandar Vucic.
In Australia, where a large Serbian community lives, around 100 anti-vaccine supporters and activists chanted “Novak” outside the detention center on Saturday. Elsewhere in the city, a demonstration brought together hundreds of anti-vaccine agents, some of whom proclaimed their support for Djokovic.
Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgios, who has had heated exchanges with the “Djoker” in the past, predicted on Saturday that if the world number one made it to the Australian Open he would be unstoppable. “I think he’s going to be mad.”
The Australian imbroglio is already asking questions about the rest of his season, especially in the United States, starting with Indian Wells and Miami in the spring. The vaccine is compulsory to cross the American border.
The next Grand Slam tournament is Roland-Garros in the spring. The French Minister of Sports Roxana Maracineanu, on the other hand, estimated that “the health protocols imposed for major sporting events” would allow Novak Djokovic to enter France.
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