Djokovic practises for Australian Open as he waits for visa ruling
MELBOURNE, (Reuters) - World tennis number one Novak Djokovic took to the court yesterday to practise for the Australian Open as he waited to hear whether Australia will cancel his visa for a second time, threatening his bid for a record 21st major tennis title.
A relaxed looking Djokovic practised his serves and returns with his entourage on an empty court at Melbourne Park, occasionally resting in a chair to wipe sweat from his face.
Djokovic, the defending champion, was included in Thursday's draw https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sp orts/australian-open-draw-delayeddjokovic-visa-decision-awaited2022-01-13 as top seed and was due to face fellow Serb Miomir Kecmanovic for his opening match, probably on Monday or Tuesday.
A decision to again cancel his visa over COVID-19 entry regulations could set up a second court battle by the Serbian tennis star, after a court quashed an earlier revocation and released him from immigration detention on Monday.
Melbourne's The Age newspaper cited a source in Prime Minister Scott Morrison's Liberal Party as saying the government was "strongly leaning" towards revoking the visa again.
Djokovic, a vaccine sceptic, fuelled widespread anger in Australia when he announced last week he was heading to Melbourne for the Australian Open with a medical exemption https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sp orts/key-moments-novak-djokovicsaustralian-saga-2022-01-12 to requirements for visitors to be inoculated against COVID-19.
On arrival, Australian Border Force decided his exemption was invalid and put him in an immigration detention hotel alongside asylum-seekers at for several days.
Australia has endured some of the world's longest lockdowns, has a 90% vaccination rate among adults, and has seen a runaway Omicron outbreak bring nearly a million cases in the last two weeks. Finance Minister Simon Birmingham said on morning television on Friday that visa decisions were a matter for the country's Immigration Minister Alex Hawke, but the policy settings of the government overall were "crystal clear".
"That is that people who enter Australia who are not Australian citizens should be double dose vaccinated unless they have a clear and valid medical exemption against that," he said on Channel 9's Today Show.
'PLAYING BY OWN RULES'
Greek world number four Stefanos Tsitsipas said Djokovic was "playing by his own rules" and making vaccinated players "look like fools".
"No-one really thought they could come to Australia unvaccinated and not having to follow the protocols ... it takes a lot of daring to do and putting the grand slam at risk, which I don't think many players would do," Tsitsipas said in an interview with India's WION news channel.