The refusal of the world champion visa to enter Australia has provoked all kinds of reactions and has put the player in the middle of the political arena. His family denounces mistreatment while colleagues speak out, including Rafael Nadal, who regretted Djokovic’s situation, but said that he knew “the consequences” he would face if he did not go to the competition vaccinated.
A situation that escaped the imagination of millions of tennis fans just a few days ago and that has become the center of global controversy in less than 24 hours: the world’s number one and favorite to win the Australian Open 2022, Novak Djokovik, is suspended at the gates of the tournament after being detained by border agents for failing to comply with Australia’s anti-covid regulations.
The tennis player traveled to Melbourne with a medical exemption from the Government of the State of Victoria to be able to play without being vaccinated, but upon arrival at the city’s airport he was separated from his team and border officials took him to a room with police surveillance where They interrogated him for hours and where they informed him that his visa had been canceled for not meeting the country’s strict requirements against the pandemic.
In the margin of the eight hours for which he was detained, his lawyers reported that they would appeal, in search of a way for the champion to compete in the Grand Slam as of January 17. Then he was transferred to a hotel where asylum seekers are also being guarded and about which his relatives denounce poor conditions.
His situation has caused a whirlwind of pronouncements and events, which have filled social networks and the covers of Australian and sports media. ‘The West Australian’, for example, titled with a photo of the idol, followed by the text ‘No Vak’, ‘No Vax’, ‘No Way’ (Novak, No Vacuna, No Manera), while the Serbian tabloid ‘Blic ‘published’ Shame Day for Australia: Novak in horrible condition ‘.
Djokovic’s vaccination situation raised a stir in Australia
Djokovic’s firm refusal to get vaccinated is not unrelated to the situation he now faces.
“Personally I am opposed to vaccination, and I do not want someone to force me to vaccinate to be able to travel,” the athlete had said in April 2020, during the worst stage of the pandemic. Now his words -which he has maintained since then-, in the midst of a strong wave of infections in Australia with a record of new cases for the fourth consecutive day and overwhelmed hospitals, play a strong setback.
Djokovic’s arrival in Australia had caused a stir among its population, which has faced some of the toughest measures in the world amid the pandemic, with families who have been separated for more than a year and local citizens who could not even travel between the very states of the nation.
That is why the anti-vaccine stance and Djokovic’s refusal to reveal whether he had been vaccinated was raising harshness and some find in it an incentive to his arrest and the -until now- immovable stance of Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison to ensure that “The rules are the rules” and that Novak would be no exception.
Djokovic’s exemption amid controversy
The athlete has also been caught in a political fight between the conservative Morrison Administration and the left-leaning government of the state of Victoria.
Although states can issue exemptions to vaccination requirements for citizens to enter the country, it is the federal government that controls international borders and has the power to challenge such exemptions. Djokovic had just received his exemption from the Victorian Government, but upon arrival the Federal Border Force considered that Djokovic could not justify the reasons for his exemption.
There are still multiple unknowns about what were the causes of the refusal of ‘Nole’ to enter the country, as well as what exactly his visa consisted of, especially after it was learned that a total of five other players had been able to enter the country without being vaccinated, something that has not been without controversy either.
Several sports media such as AS suggest that the tennis player would have based his exemption request on the fact that he had overcome a coronavirus infection less than six months ago. But the hypothesis has also circulated that the player’s request had been made through wrong paperwork.
The family denounces “kidnapping” and the Serbian government “harassment”
The tennis player’s family blames the politicians of the oceanic country for his situation. His mother, Dijana Djokovic, assured that the athlete “is the scapegoat”, while his father, Srdjan, said that the problem of entering the country “has nothing to do with sport”, but rather “is an issue of political agenda “. He also assured that his son is “kidnapped.” This last statement could bring problems to the tennis player, since, according to the Australian newspaper ‘The Age’, as a result of this statement the authorities would be considering the possibility of vetoing Djokovic from entering the country for 3 years.
Some of his colleagues have also spoken, including Spaniard Rafael Nadal, who said he regretted his situation, although he indicated that the Serbian tennis player “knew the conditions for months.” “He is a person of legal age who makes his own decisions and who has to pay the consequences of those decisions,” he said.
Meanwhile, fans of the national idol in Serbia have held a demonstration in favor of the athlete before Parliament.
Meanwhile, the Serbian president once again assured that the athlete continued to be “harassed” by the Australian authorities, a statement that he has maintained since he learned of the situation of his fellow countryman and complained about the fact that the champion was staying in an “immigration” hotel.
For the moment, the tennis player will remain in Australia until Monday, when a court in the country has set the date to determine whether or not the world champion will be able to compete in the tournament that would catapult him to glory.
If the Serbian will participate in the championship, which if he wins, would establish him as the undisputed leader at the historical level of tennis by winning 21 Grand Slam and thus beating tennis players Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, it is still a mystery that will depend on the Justice of the oceanic country .
With Reuters
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