The issue of Serbian star Novak Djokovic’s participation in the Australian Open, the first of the four Grand Slams, intensified, after his visa to Australia was canceled despite his arrival at the airport.
In a statement, border officials said Australia had canceled Djokovic’s entry visa on Thursday after he was unable to meet strict entry requirements.
“Non-citizen arrivals who do not hold a valid visa at entry or whose visas have been revoked will be detained and removed from Australia,” the Australian Border Force said.
And things took an escalating turn after the intervention of the Serbian president, who on Wednesday accused Australia of “mistreating” Djokovic, as Victoria state government officials refused to support the entry visa application submitted by the Serbian star upon his arrival in Melbourne with the aim of participating in the Australian Open.
President Aleksandar Vucic said on Instagram that he spoke with Djokovic on the phone and informed him that “the whole of Serbia is with him and that the country’s authorities are taking all measures to end the abuse of the best tennis player in the world as soon as possible.”
“In line with all standards of international public law, Serbia will fight for Novak Djokovic, justice and truth,” he added.
Djokovic “stuck” at the airport
Victoria’s acting sports minister, Gala Polford, said on Wednesday that her state had rejected a request for assistance and that visa approval was a matter for the federal government.
It was not clear why the state government would need to provide its support, but Australian media reports said the nine-time Australian Open champion may have applied for the wrong type of visa.
According to reports, “Dioko”, who was granted medical exemption to participate in the Australian Open, arrived in Melbourne late Wednesday.
“The Federal Government has asked if we will support Novak Djokovic’s visa application to enter Australia,” Bolford said in a tweet.
“We will not provide individual visa application support for Novak Djokovic to participate in the 2022 Australian Open.”
The Australian newspaper said Djokovic was seeking to enter the country on a work visa “which he believed would require support from the Victorian state government”.
Melbourne’s Edge newspaper said FFF contacted the Victorian government when it realized that Djokovic’s team had asked for “the wrong kind of visa”.
angry reactions
The medical exemption granted to Djokovic had sparked angry reactions in the country, as the president of the local federation for the game Craig Tiley asked him to reveal the reasons for this exemption, although he did not disclose at all whether he had received a vaccine against the “Covid-19” virus or not.
“It would certainly be useful for Novak to explain the circumstances under which he applied for an exemption” to participate in the tournament scheduled for January 17-30, said Tilley, director of the Australian Open, also in statements to reporters on Wednesday.
He added: “I encourage him to talk to the community about this… We’ve been through a very difficult time in the past two years, and I would appreciate some of the answers.”
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that he would ask Djokovic to prove that the “medical exemption” he received from the Australian Open was justified, or else he would be sent back “to his country with the first plane”.
“We are waiting for him to be presented and for him to provide us with evidence to justify” the exemption, Morrison told a news conference. If his evidence is insufficient, he will not be treated differently from everyone else, and will return home with the first plane. There will be no special rule for Novak Djokovic, not one.”
– ‘There is no special advantage’ –
The Australian Federation president said that the world’s first ranked player did not receive any preferential treatment to obtain this exemption, during a process supervised by the Australian and Victorian authorities.
He said that 26 players or members of their technical, medical and administrative staff out of 3,000 expected to attend in Australia, requested an exemption, and only a few obtained it.
Tiley insisted, “Anyone who meets the conditions for an exemption is allowed entry (into Australia). There was no special preference. There was no special treatment for Novak.”
He pointed out that the two committees responsible for examining exemption requests did so without knowing the identity of the applicants.
In addition to the fact that the Australian Open is his favorite tournament, it is his first in his 20 titles in the Grand Slam, when he won it in 2008, and that no player has previously won it nine times. The news of him being deprived of the championship is like an “earthquake”, as he is ranked number one in the world.
But “Noli”’s participation in this year’s edition has been under suspicion for many months due to obligating the participants and participants to receive the anti-Covid-19 vaccine, along with those close to them and members of their training and medical staff.
Djokovic has never talked about his vaccination status and in April 2020 he spoke that he was against the compulsory vaccination, which was necessary at the time to resume competitions despite the “Covid-19” pandemic.
“Personally, I am not in favor of vaccinations. I do not like for someone to force me to be vaccinated to travel,” he said at the time during a conversation with several Serbian athletes on his Facebook page.
Djokovic received a “medical exemption” on Tuesday. Australian regulations provide for this type of exemption to be granted in five specific cases, including infection with Covid-19 in the previous six months, serious medical contraindications …. But the Australian Football Association resorted to medical confidentiality to determine which of them apply to Djokovic.
spit in the face
This announcement in particular provoked negative reactions from some players who denounced double standards, or in some Australian newspaper headlines, in a country where the measures to combat “Covid-19” have been particularly stringent since the beginning of the epidemic.
Former tennis player-turned-television commentator Sam Groth wrote in a column for the Melbourne Herald Sun newspaper that he “spit in the face of any Victorian and any Australian”.
“You mean you have an exemption, but you don’t want to say why? It’s disgusting hypocrisy,” he added.
British doubles player Jamie Murray, who is currently participating in the ATP Cup in Sydney, complained: “I think if I had not been vaccinated, I would not have been exempted.”
Prominent Australian doctor Stephen Barnes criticized in a “strong message” on Twitter: “I don’t care if a tennis player is good. If he refuses to receive the vaccine, he should not be allowed into the country.”
“If this exemption is valid, it sends a sad message to the millions of people seeking to reduce the risk of contracting COVID-19 in Australia for themselves and others,” he added.