JUDGE ASKS WHAT MORE DJOKOVIC COULD HAVE DONE
An Australian judge who will decide whether top-ranked tennis star Novak Djokovic plays in the Australian Open questioned on Monday (Sunday night San Diego time) what more the Serbian could have done to meet Australia’s coronavirus entry requirements.
The 34-year-old is fighting deportation and the cancellation of his visa in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia.
The Australian government canceled his visa shortly after he arrived in Melbourne late Wednesday because officials decided he didn’t meet the criteria for an exemption to an entry requirement that all non-citizens be fully vaccinated for COVID-19.
Djokovic argued he did not need proof of vaccination because he had evidence that he had been infected with the coronavirus last month.
Australian medical authorities have ruled that a temporary exemption for the vaccination rule can be provided to people who have been infected with COVID-19 within six months.
Circuit Court Judge Anthony Kelly noted that Djokovic had provided officials at Melbourne’s airport with a medical exemption given him by Tennis Australia, which is organizing the tournament that starts on Jan. 17, and two medical panels.
“The point I’m somewhat agitated about is what more could this man have done?” Kelly asked Djokovic’s lawyer, Nick Wood.
Wood agreed with the judge that Djokovic could not have done more.
More tennis
Felix Auger-Aliassime clinched the ATP Cup title for Canada with a 7-6 (3), 6-3 singles victory over Roberto
Bautista Agut to give his country an insurmountable 2-0 lead against Spain in Sydney. Denis Shapovalov
opened the match for Canada with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Pablo Carreno Busta.
• Top-ranked Ash Barty
won her second Adelaide International title in three years with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Elena Rybakina. Rafael Nadal
also added another title to his illustrious career, capturing at least one ATP title for the 19th consecutive year. The top-seeded Nadal beat American Maxime Cressy,
7-6 (6), 6-3 at Melbourne in one of six tournaments this week ahead of the Australian Open, which begins Jan. 17.
College basketball
E.J. Liddell scored a career-high 34 points and No. 13 Ohio State (10-3, 4-1 Big Ten) beat Northwestern (8-5, 1-3) 95-87 at home.
• Tyler Wahl scored a career-high 21 points, Johnny Davis added 19, and No. 23 Wisconsin (13-2, 4-1 Big Ten) survived Maryland’s comeback to secure a 70-69 victory on the road over the Terps (8-7, 0-4).
• Te’Jon Lucas had 10 points as BYU (14-3, 2-0 WCC) defeated Saint Mary’s (12-4, 0-1) 52-43 on Saturday night at home.
College football
The administrators who manage the College Football Playoff will report on the progress of expansion talks to a presidential oversight committee today.
Locally
The Ontario Fury got revenge on the San Diego Sockers for a loss last week with an 8-7 overtime victory at Pechanga Arena in MASL play.
• Mallory Adams scored a career-high 21 points and had nine rebounds, but the San
Diego State women’s basketball (7-8, 1-3 MW) lost 75-72 at New Mexico (13-4, 4-0).
• The San Diego Gulls had five players called up Saturday morning by the Anaheim Ducks, but they gave the Ontario Reign a game just the same at night. The Gulls led going into the final period but
couldn’t hold it as the Reign scored a 5-4 AHL victory in overtime.
• Dane Dobbie scored five goals, including the 450th of his career, as the San Diego Seals scored a 15-12 NLL victory over Panther City LC at home on Saturday night.
Soccer
Third-round exits in the FA Cup don’t come along very often for Arsenal. Unless, that is, Nottingham Forest is the opponent. Failing to transfer its improved Premier League form to the world’s oldest knockout competition, Arsenal was beaten 1-0 by second-tier Forest in the second big shock of the third round — the stage where top-flight clubs enter the draw. Tottenham and Liverpool avoided the same fate as Arsenal, launching comebacks after falling behind at home to third-tier opponents. Tottenham beat Morecambe 3-1 and Liverpool won 4-1 against Shrewsbury.
Winter sports
Petra Vlhova cemented her status as the leading female slalom skier of the season with her fifth win from six races with just a month to go before the Olympic race in Beijing.
The overall World Cup champion from Slovakia won the penultimate slalom before the Games as she denied first-run leader Wendy Holdener of Switzerland a first career win at Kranjska Gora, Slovenia.