Dispute with Australia
Trapped in the “bureaucratic morass”: How things are going now for Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic almost a year ago after winning the Australian Open in 2021
© Paul Crock / AFP
Novak Djokovic’s Australian visa in Australia is valid again for the time being, but the immigration minister can overrule the court ruling. Meanwhile, it is becoming apparent that the Serb has become a victim of state arbitrariness.
Worry hours for Novak Djokovic: A court in Melbourne has lifted the cancellation of his visa by Australian border officials, but that does not mean that he will participate in the Australian Open. The judge did not justify the judgment in principle, but with procedural questions. The border guards would not have given Djokovic enough time to contact his lawyers. Immigration minister Alex Hawke has the option to override the court ruling and revoke the visa again: “The minister is currently on the case and this process is still ongoing,” said a Hawke spokesman.
But how the immigration minister decides has not been determined, and neither is it when. Hawke is unlikely to announce a decision until Monday night European time. The minister should take his time, because a renewed refusal of the visa would also mean that the tennis star would not be allowed to travel to Australia for three years.
For Novak Djokovic, an exile would be a shock
For the professional, who has been in Melbourne regularly in January since he was 16, it would be a shock. Djokovic would then have one less Grand Slam tournament to get the all-time record of 21 Grand Slam victories. The Serbian, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer each have 20 wins. For the organizers of the Australian Open, Djokovic’s expulsion would be a major setback. Without the record winner of the tournament (the Serb won nine times in Melbourne), it would lose its attractiveness in the next few years.
For Djokovic and his fans it means to wait. The Serb has just left the deportation hotel and is supposed to be with his Australian lawyers to discuss how to proceed. It can be assumed that Djokovic will soon resume training on the grounds of the Australian Open on the Yarra River in order to prepare for the tournament that begins next Monday.
Caught in the “bureaucratic morass”
Meanwhile, it is becoming apparent that the immigration farce about the superstar is more likely to be due to the unclear Australian immigration rules. The ruling judge asked in a revealing sentence: “What more could this man have done?”. In this context, the newspaper “The Age” spoke of the fact that Djokovic was caught in a “bureaucratic morass of fighting pandemics”, for which he ultimately could not help, so read the intervening lines. In between it was said that a Covid 19 infection should not be equated with vaccinated status. There is no longer any talk of that.
Djokovic had submitted the exemption he had received from the Australian Tennis Association and which should be sufficient. This undoubtedly includes the two confirmations from two independent bodies of medical experts, one from the state of Victoria. That was not enough for the border guards, they apparently wanted, as the now published minutes of the talks between Djokovic and the border guards, a federal confirmation because the federal government was responsible for the entry.
Regardless of Djokovic’s dubious attitude to vaccination and Corona: It is becoming increasingly clear that the tennis professional has also become a victim of state arbitrariness to a certain extent.
Sources:“The Age”, DPA.