For lack of a valid vaccination status, Novak Djokovic was not allowed to enter Australia, where he hoped to play the Melbourne Open. The decision angered Belgrade, but the fate of the Serbian champion hardly moved the international press.
“But what the hell is going on with Novak Djokovic?”, wonders Sports Illustrated. The question sums up the state of mind of the international press, after an incredible night spiced up with administrative imbroglio and diplomatic incident.
Upon arriving in Melbourne on Wednesday evening (11:30 p.m. local time), the tennis champion – notoriously silent about his vaccine and immune status – was refused entry and his visa canceled. The web of the administrative process that led to this decision was not fully unraveled Thursday morning. Corn The Age assure that the player did not meet the conditions to escape the quarantine imposed on arrival for people not vaccinated against Covid-19.
The player had however boasted, before his departure, to benefit from a “Medical exemption”, granted by the organizers of the Open and authorities in the state of Victoria, which hosts the tournament – an exemption that had infuriated the Australians and their Prime Minister, Scott Morrison on Wednesday.
But entering Australia is in fine federal authorities, and they had informed the organizers of the Open in November that Djokovic did not meet the criteria to escape quarantine, according to documents released Thursday by The Age.
Serbian anger
“According to multiple sources, the world number one had requested an exemption on the grounds that he had contracted Covid-19 in the past six months”, explains the Melbourne daily.
But in a letter sent to tournament management on November 18, the Australian Department of Health stated that “People who have contracted Covid-19 in the past and have not received a dose of the vaccine are not considered to be fully vaccinated” and cannot escape quarantine, “Even if they would have received vaccine exemptions abroad”.
“After having pleaded his case in vain to the border police, during eight hours of detention”, Djokovic has decided to appeal the decision, report it Sydney Morning Herald. “But he could be forced to leave Melbourne on Thursday evening”, estimates the daily. Pending the final decision of the authorities, the player has been placed in quarantine in a federal establishment in Melbourne.
decision “extraordinaire” de Canberra angered Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, who spoke to the champion while in detention and demanded that it be brought to an end “Immediately to the harassment of the best tennis player in the world”, report Archyde.com.
“In accordance with the rules of international law, Serbia will fight for Novak, for truth and for justice”, he thundered.
The pill is bitter for Djokovic, who hoped to win in Melbourne – his favorite tournament – a 21st Grand Slam title, and thus overtake Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, winners like him of 20 Grand Slams.
Decency
Most in an opinion column, USA Today valued that Djokovic can only blame himself. “In the final analysis of the most bizarre day in modern tennis history, there is one obvious conclusion that needs to be made up front: none of this would have happened if Novak Djokovic had simply been vaccinated”.
“It wasn’t much to ask”, continues the American daily. “When your job is to travel the world to play tennis in the midst of a pandemic, navigating between the regulations of several countries, (vaccination) was the guarantee to avoid all types of problems”.
For the German wave, it is above all time for Djokovic to be transparent with his immune status. “Athletes generally want to be adored by the public to ensure their place in history, and that is certainly true for Djokovic. With his 20 Grand Slam titles, his sporting status is assured ”, writes the German site.
“But unless he is able to reveal a legitimate reason for claiming an exemption which causes frustration, angst and anger among tennis fans and the general public, his status as a decent human is not”, he asserts.