The Djoker’s Show

Australia’s government cancelled the world number one Novak Djokovic’s visa for a second time on Friday as it sought to deport the tennis superstar for arriving in the country without a Covid-19 vaccine.

According to Australia’s Immigration Minister Alex Hawke, he acted on “health and good order grounds on the basis that it was in the public interest to do so”.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s government “is firmly committed to protecting Australia’s borders, particularly in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic,” Hawke said in a statement.

The cancellation effectively means the Serbian star would be barred from a new Australian visa for the next three years, except under certain circumstances.

The visa decision put the 20-time Grand Slam winner’s dream of a 10th Australian Open title and a record 21st Grand Slam win in peril.

Djokovic is the tournament’s top seed and had been practising on the Melbourne Park courts till a few hours earlier.

He was drawn on Thursday to play fellow Serbian star Miomir Kecmanovic in the first round of the Australian Open despite ongoing uncertainty over his visa status.

Read more: Djokovic drawn to play Australian Open first round amid visa saga

The megastar flew into Melbourne airport on January 5, claiming a vaccine exemption because of a positive PCR test result on December 16.

‘All fools’ 

Border agents rejected his exemption, tore up his visa and placed him in a notorious Melbourne detention centre where he spent four nights.

The Australian government insists a recent infection does not qualify as a vaccine exemption for foreign nationals trying to enter the country.

There were massive protests in Serbia by Djokovic’s fans who wanted the Australian government to release him from the detention centre and allow him to play the first Grand Slam of the year. The demonstrations were also joined by the tennis maestro’s parents.

The tennis megastar’s top-flight legal team dramatically overturned the visa decision through the court because border officials at the airport had failed to give him the agreed time to respond.

After the top-ranked tennis player emerged as the winner in the court of law, his mother claimed that his son was subjected to torture by the Australian government.

“He was subjected to torture, to harassment and we will hear even more about what he had to go through,” she was quoted saying in a press conference by BBC. “And of course, he fought against that system and against the government because he thought he had the right to be there with a visa that he got.”

Admitting ‘errors’

The tennis superstar earlier admitted “errors” in his travel papers and confessed to meeting a journalist after a claimed coronavirus infection.

The men’s world number one made the admission in an Instagram post as attention focused on his movements before he flew to Melbourne for the Australian Open.

Djokovic had said his team had offered fresh information to the Australian government, which was pondering whether to cancel his visa, again, and throw him out of the country.

“We are living in challenging times in a global pandemic and sometimes these mistakes can occur,” the unvaccinated 34-year-old said in a statement released.

Later, in an update to Australian media, Hawke’s spokesman had acknowledged receiving “lengthy further submissions” from the player’s lawyers.

“Naturally, this will affect the timeframe for a decision,” he had said.

Read more: Djokovic admits ‘errors’ as he fights to avoid Australian deportation

‘Error of judgement’ 

The nine-time Australian Open champion had described reports about his post-infection outings in Serbia as “misinformation”.

On the day of his claimed positive test in Serbia, he appeared at a ceremony to honour him with stamps bearing his image. The following day he attended a youth tennis event. He appeared at both the events apparently without a mask.

“He didn’t know, probably. He didn’t know because when he realised he was positive he went into isolation,” his mother said.

“I really cannot say anything about that. It’s maybe the best to ask him.”

Djokovic, who made no mention of the stamp ceremony, said he only received the PCR test result after attending the children’s tennis event.

However, he admitted that he also went ahead with an interview with French sports daily L’Equipe on December 18.

“I felt obligated to go ahead and conduct the L’Equipe interview as I didn’t want to let the journalist down but did ensure I socially distanced and wore a mask except when my photograph was being taken,” he mentioned.

“On reflection, this was an error of judgement and I accept that I should have rescheduled this commitment.”

No questions about vaccination

The journalist who carried out the L’Equipe interview, Franck Ramella, said Djokovic’s representatives had told him not to ask about Covid-19 vaccinations.

Ramella said: “The instructions were clear — no questions about vaccination.”

The reporter said he didn’t know at the time of the interview that Djokovic was Covid-positive.

Support team ‘made mistake’

The tennis ace also admitted a mistake on his Australian travel declaration, where a box was ticked indicating that he had not, or would not, travel in the 14 days before flying to Melbourne.

In fact, social media posts and reports show he flew from Serbia to Spain during that period.

“This was submitted by my support team on my behalf,” Djokovic had said.

“My agent sincerely apologises for the administrative mistake in ticking the incorrect box about my previous travel before coming to Australia. This was a human error and certainly not deliberate.”

Moreover, Australian media seized on reporting by Germany’s Der Spiegel newspaper that cast doubt over Djokovic’s positive test.

The newspaper said it had scanned the QR code on his Serbian PCR test, which it said delivered a negative result, only to change to a positive result an hour later.

However, it was not possible to independently verify the Der Spiegel story.

Furious fellows

On the other hand, his fellow players also came forward to criticise the top-ranked tennis player’s actions.

World number four Stefanos Tsitsipas maintained that Djokovic had put the Australian Open at risk and made other tennis players “look like fools” after travelling to Australia unvaccinated.

“For sure he has been playing by his own rules,” Tsitsipas said in an interview with Indian broadcaster WION.

“It takes a lot of daring to do and (is) putting a Grand Slam at risk… I don’t think many players would do that.”

Tsitsipas, who lost to Djokovic in last year’s French Open final, said nearly everyone at the Melbourne tournament had been vaccinated.

Others, he said, “chose to follow their own way which kind of makes the majority look like they’re all fools.”

Earlier, the Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal had said laughing that on a personal level, he would rather want Djokovic to not play Australian Open as he may surpass his and Roger Federer’s tally of 20 Grand Slams.

However, Nadal backed the vaccination campaign and said that it was the only way to stop this disaster that the world is suffering for nearly the last two years.

“The most important institutions in the world say that the vaccine is the way to stop this pandemic and the disaster that we have been living in for the last 20 months,” he said.

Moreover, Spain’s female tennis star Garbine Muguruza had called the whole Djokovic saga a ‘nonsense battle’ and expressed her concern regarding how this whole drama will represent tennis to the world.

“It’s a nonsense battle – sooner or later everyone will have to get vaccinated,” she had told reporters. “Yes, I am vaccinated. I know the requirements of the tournament, and I do not see why it is necessary to do it another way. What’s happening is a show, and I don’t know if this is good for tennis.”

Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics had not minced his words while commenting on the Serbian star’s stance on vaccination and said that he did not have the right to be in Australia.

“People’s health is paramount, and there are rules that were outlined months ago – namely that everyone should vaccinate themselves – and Djokovic didn’t,” Fucsovics told Hungarian outlet M4Sport.

“From this point of view, I don’t think he would have the right to be here.”

Read more: Djokovic saga: AO 2022 set to become ‘Not-so-happy’ Slam