First modification:
The Serbian tennis player trains in Melbourne pending the decision of the Australian Immigration Minister regarding his stay in the country. This is due to not having presented sufficient justification for the medical exemption since he is not vaccinated against Covid-19, a mandatory requirement for non-citizens and non-residents who want to enter the territory. The authorities can still cancel your visa and deport you.
Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic completed his second training session ahead of the Australian Open on January 11 at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, along with his coach Goran Ivanisevic. The images were broadcast by the public channel ‘ABC’.
This thanks to a permit granted by an Australian court to stay in the country despite not being vaccinated against Covid-19 after resorting to the revocation of his visa.
However, a spokesman for the Minister of Immigration, Alex Hawk, assured that “the minister will consider thoroughly” whether he uses his discretionary power to cancel Djokovic’s visa, deport him or prohibit him from entering Australia for up to three years.
Australia does not allow entry to non-citizens or non-residents who are not fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. What it does allow are medical exemptions, but the Government considered the justification for Djokovic insufficient, who is not vaccinated.
In addition, some Australian media pointed out that the Australian Border Force was analyzing the veracity of the information provided by the athlete.
In theory, Djokovic marked “no” when asked if he had been abroad in the last 14 days. However, some publications on social networks dismissed the athlete’s claims, where it seems that he spent Christmas in Serbia and the New Year in Spain.
Lying on official forms could cost the Serb the definitive cancellation of his visa.
The Serbian Government asked Australia for a good deal for Djokovic
According to a statement, Ana Brnabić, the Prime Minister of Serbia, asked her Australian counterpart Scott Morrison “to do everything possible to ensure that Djokovic has a humane and dignified treatment in Australia during the entire time of his stay.”
This, alluding to the training and physical preparations that were denied him in the past days.
Finally, he asked for a “direct exchange of information in the coming days between the two governments”, which have been compromised by the controversy.
The controversy has generated diverse points of view
Several sports figures and even politicians have given their opinion regarding the Djokovic case. Among them, the Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal, who referred to the prelude to the tournament as a “circus”.
For his part, Australian athlete Nick Kyrgios said that despite supporting vaccination, he felt ashamed that his country is acting like this after “everything this guy has done for us and for the sport.”
An opposite case is that of Keith Moore, a resident of Melbourne, who considered Djokovic’s attitude inappropriate. “We had to go through vaccination protocols and blockades for so long and he comes in and does practically what he likes because he is the best tennis player in the world,” he said. It should be noted that this city endured the longest confinement in the world.
According to the count of the organization Our World in Data, in Australia, which has more than 25 million inhabitants, more than 1 million people have contracted the virus and more than 2,400 have died from it.
The country has inoculated more than 77% of its total population with the complete scheme.
Meanwhile, Djokovic’s future remains uncertain until January 17, the day the Australian Open begins.
With EFE and Reuters
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