At the end of a ten-day health and sports saga, Novak Djokovic saw his visa revoked on Friday once more by the Australian government due to doubts regarding the justifications provided by the Serbian player on his exemption from the Covid-19 vaccine. The world number one team of lawyers immediately challenged this decision in a federal court in Melbourne.
By early evening (local time) on Friday, they got their client out of custody for now. On the other hand, Novak Djokovic must appear at dawn on Saturday in front of the immigration services, which might then decide to lock him up once more, the time for justice to rule on his case.
Earlier today, Australian Immigration Minister Alex Hawke exercised his discretion to revoke “Nole’s” visa. This very political decision, while the government was under pressure a few months before the elections scheduled for May, may have serious consequences if the courts do not agree with the Serbian: it involves a three-year ban on entry into Australia for Novak Djokovic.
“In making this decision, I carefully considered the information provided to me by the Home Office, the Australian Border Force and Mr. Djokovic, explained the minister in a press release. Today I exercised the power conferred on me by article 133C (3) of the Migration Law to cancel the visa held by Mr. Novak Djokovic for health reasons. […] on the grounds that it was in the public interest to do so. ”
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrisson confirmed in a statement the decision of his Immigration Minister to deport the player: “Australians have made many sacrifices during this pandemic, and rightly want the outcome of those sacrifices to be protected.”
The call or the plane
The number 1 in world tennis is however in the table of the Australian Open, the draw of which took place on Thursday: he was to play once morest the Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic, 78th in the world, in the first round. In recent days, regardless of much debate regarding him, he has continued to train in Melbourne in hopes of securing a 10th Australian Open title, and a 21st Grand Slam victory, which would be a record.
When the government’s decision fell, lawyers for the 34-year-old Serb, unsurprisingly, very quickly appealed. They might not delay making an appeal because “Nole” risked being sent home before the end of the day, or placed once more in the Park Hotel in Carlton. When he arrived in Melbourne on January 5, he had already had to sleep for five nights in this hotel where illegal aliens are detained for sometimes several years. Before his lawyers won a resounding victory on January 10, by getting Federal Judge Anthony Kelly to reinstate his visa and order his immediate release.
Novak Djokovic “played by his own rules”
Earlier in the week, the world number 1 admitted to having incorrectly completed his declaration of entry into Australia, and not to have respected the isolation rules following testing positive for Covid-19 in December in Serbia. He hoped that this contamination would allow him to benefit from an exemption to enter Australia without being vaccinated. In a long message posted on Instagram on Wednesday, however, he recognized some “Errors of judgment”. While blaming part of the blame on his advisers.
Since the start of the case, some players have pleaded for Djokovic to participate in the Grand Slam despite the scandals. When others were much more critical. Novak Djokovic “Played by his own rules” by choosing not to be vaccinated before the Australian Open and “Makes the majority of players look like idiots”, said the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, world number 4, on Thursday in an interview with Indian media WION. “It takes a lot of nerve to do it and it puts the whole tournament in danger… I don’t think a lot of players would do that”, he added.
Update at 12:20 with the government’s decision not to dismiss Novak Djokovic for the moment and his appearance scheduled for Saturday morning.
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