Category: Tennis News

Novak Djokovic, the former World no.1 has been at the center of all controversy as his saga in Australia continues even after his in-court victory last week. 

Here is the way things unfolded for Djokovic in the time of last month;

• Djokovic tests positive on December 16th
• Novak breaks isolation rules for an interview
• Australian Open gives Novak the medical exemption on 7th January
• Djokovic travels to Australia on 8th January
• Djokovic detained by Australian authorities on 8th January due to lack of documentation
• Djokovic fights in court to become a free man in Australia on 10th January
• Djokovic wins court battle on 10th January
• Djokovic released from detention hotel on 10th January
• Australian government cancels Novak’s Visa again on 14th January
• A new court case with hearing set for 16th January 

The Serbian has been in the middle of everything due to him not getting vaccinated against the Covid virus. The tennis star has publicly denied being vaccinated and put down any intentions or calls for him to to get vaccinated now or in the future. With Australia put in a tough spot in terms of accepting this unvaccinated player just because of his status into the country, they are on the right path to cancel his Visa and deport him. If Djokovic is allowed to play and stay in Australia it will be a huge message to people who had their visas denied due to being unvaccinated.

With countries like Canada punishing people for unvaccinated status and countries like the United States also pursuing such measures, Australia will need to put a hold on Djokovic in order to show political strength. 

Novak Djokovic, the former World no. 1 has had a bad start to his 2022. Last week he won a court battle to stay in Australia without getting vaccinated and without any visa cancellations. Now, the Morrison government has used their power and right to revoke his visa yet again post his straight out refusal to get vaccinated.

Australia as a country has banned entry for any person without vaccination due to the spread of the Covid-19 variants. Now, with Djokovic given medical exemption by the Australian Open, the government have finally ended the whole situation by revoking Djokvic’s visa due to lack of vaccination.

Australian Immigration minister Alex Hawke said, “Today I exercised my power under section 133C(3) of the Migration Act to cancel the visa held by Mr Novak Djokovic on health and good order grounds, on the basis that it was in the public interest to do so.

This decision followed orders by the Federal Circuit and Family Court on 10 January 2022, quashing a prior cancellation decision on procedural fairness grounds.

In making this decision, I carefully considered information provided to me by the Department of Home Affairs, the Australian Border Force and Mr Djokovic.

The Morrison Government is firmly committed to protecting Australia’s borders, particularly in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic.

I thank the officers of the Department of Home Affairs and the Australian Border Force who work every day to serve Australia’s interests in increasingly challenging operational environments.”

This means that the opponent Djokovic was drawn against in the first round of Australian Open will be given a free win to move ahead as the defending champion prepares to leave Australia.

With the Djokovic controversy still ongoing, the Australian Open committee isn’t waiting anymore. The Australian Open have revealed their draw for this year’s first grand slam with the likes of Djokovic, Nadal, Tsitsipas and more already in the tournament. 

As far as the qualifiers go, the likes of Murray, who has made it to the quarter finals, will have a chance to make it to the main tournament. The draw has spots open for qualifier winners. 

The draw this time has the likes of Rafael Nadal, Alexander Zverev Shapapolav and the defending champion Novak Djokovic in the same side. Meanwhile the other side consists of Ruud, Murray, Sinner, Dimitrov, Tsitsipas and Medvedev. 

Djokovic will be facing fellow Serbian, Kecmannovic to start off his campaign, while Nadal will be facing American Giron in the first round. With the two 20 time grand slam champions both seemingly doing very well for their ages, it’ll be interesting to see if the two can turn back the clock and make it a Nadal vs Djokovic Semi-final in melbourne.

It’ll be interesting to see how Tsitsipas and Medvedev fare as they are close in the draw and probably could be facing each other much sooner than the semi-finals.