Djokovic granted visa
MELBOURNE. — Novak Djokovic has been granted a visa to play in the Australian Open tennis tournament in January, Guardian Australia and state broadcaster ABC reported on Tuesday.
Djokovic, who is Serbian, was deported from Australia in the lead-up to the Grand Slam in January after he declined to be vaccinated. The former world No. 1 was originally barred from the country until 2025.
The ABC said it had confirmed Immigration Minister Andrew Giles had overturned that ban, allowing Djokovic to compete.
A spokesperson for Australia’s immigration ministry declined to comment on the reports.
Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley said this month that Djokovic would be welcome in January if he could get a visa, but that Tennis Australia was unable to lobby on his behalf. Australia in July scrapped a rule that required international travelers to declare their Covid vaccination status, and Djokovic said in October he had received “positive signs” about the status of efforts to overturn his ban.
In fact, Guardian Australia understands the immigration minister, Giles, will give Djokovic a visa, overturning a three-year ban that accompanied the decision by the previous government to cancel his visa on the eve of the 2022 Australian Open.
In January 2022 the then Coalition government revoked Djokovic’s visa on the grounds a recent Covid diagnosis did not justify an exemption to Australia’s requirement for visitors to be vaccinated. Although Djokovic won a temporary reprieve in the federal circuit court, the then immigration minister, Alex Hawke, decided to cancel the visa on the basis Djokovic’s presence in Australia might risk “civil unrest” as he is “perceived by some as a talisman of a community of anti-vaccine sentiment”. Djokovic lost a second federal court case, resulting in his deportation just days before he was to contest the tournament, seeking his 10th Australian Open crown in search of a record 21st Grand Slam title.
Australia has since overturned its requirement for visitors to be vaccinated. To overturn the three-year ban, the minister must be satisfied that compelling circumstances exist to let a person who had previously had their visa revoked to return.