The participation of Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic in the 2022 Australian Open became a novel that ended up triggering verbal exchanges between two governments, as well as a debate on the fulfillment of vaccination mandates around the world.
But how do we get here?
This is what you should know about this controversy in the world of tennis.
The beginning: the warning to Djokovic about his vaccine and the arrival in Australia
Since October 2021, the Australian authorities have warned: if Novak Djokovic wants to play the Australian Open in 2022, he must be vaccinated.
When clarifying the visa requirements to enter that country, the Minister of Immigration, Alex Hawke, made it very clear: foreign players who want to play the Grand Slam at Melbourne Park in January 2022 must be vaccinated.
“They will have to receive the double vaccine to visit Australia. That is a universal application, not only for tennis players. I mean that all visitors to Australia will have to receive both (doses) of vaccine,” Hawke told Australian Broadcasting radio. Corporation.
“I do not have a message for Novak (Djokovic). I have a message for everyone who wishes to visit Australia. They will have to be vaccinated twice,” said Australia’s Chancellor in October 2021.
Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt said last year that the country’s rules were aimed at protecting Australians.
“(Vaccines) are applied to everyone without fear or favoritism. It does not matter if you are number one in the world or you are anything else,” he said at a press conference on Wednesday.
Djokovic’s arrival in Australia
Despite the warnings made, and without disclosing his vaccination status so far, the Serbian announced this week that he would compete in the Australian Open, which takes place from January 17 to 30.
Djokovic’s plans to defend his title at the Australian Open came after receiving a medical exemption from the vaccination mandate, Tennis Australia (TA) announced in a statement in early January 2022.
“Djokovic applied for a medical exemption which was granted after a rigorous review process involving two independent panels of medical experts,” added Tennis Australia.
Organizers of the Australian Open said the medical exemption process included the redaction of personal information to ensure the privacy of all applicants.
Tournament Director Craig Tiley previously said that players at this year’s event must be fully vaccinated, unless there is a genuine reason why an exemption should be granted.
After Djokovic’s vaccine exemption, some called for a boycott of the Australian Open
With Djokovic already on his way to Australia, criticism in the country did not wait.
The Australians responded with anger and skepticism to the medical exemption granted to the tennis player.
One of Melbourne’s most famous former Australian Football League (AFL) stars, Kevin Bartlett, tweeted that Australians had been “taken for fools.” While one of the city’s prominent emergency physicians and former president of the Australian Medical Association (AMA), Stephen Parnis, said the decision sent “a dire message” to the public.
In Melbourne, one of the world’s most closed cities in 2021, tennis fans took to social media to call for a “boycott” of the Australian Open.
Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley defended the fairness of the medical exemption review process on Wednesday, telling reporters during a press conference that “no one knew who the applicant was.”
“There were 26 applicants throughout the process, there are a handful who were granted a waiver and that information is only released by those individuals who were granted a waiver,” Tiley said.
Denied Djokovic’s entry into the country
On January 5, the Serbian tennis player arrived in Melbourne to play the Australian Open, but the Migration authorities reported an error on his visa, since said permit does not allow medical exemptions for not being vaccinated, Australian media reported.
Victoria’s Acting Sports Minister Jaala Pulford confirmed in a tweet on Wednesday that the government would not support Djokovic’s visa application.
“The federal government has asked if we will support Novak Djokovic’s visa application to enter Australia. We will not provide Novak Djokovic with individual visa application assistance to participate in the 2022 Australian Open Grand Slam, ”Pulford wrote.
“We have always been clear on two points: visa approvals are a matter for the Federal Government and medical exemptions are a matter for doctors,” he added.
Later that day, Australia canceled Djokovic’s visa because it “did not provide adequate evidence to meet the entry requirements for Australia and the visa was subsequently canceled,” Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt said.
What has Djokovic said about the covid-19 vaccine?
The tennis player, who is in the No. 1 position in the ATP world rankings, showed in May 2021 his disagreement with the mandatory mandate of vaccines.
Speaking to journalists during the Serbian Open last May, the Serbian player insisted that he would not reveal whether he will receive a vaccine in the future and hoped that the sport’s governing bodies would not make it mandatory to receive a vaccine.
“I don’t think it will come to that. I hope not, because I have always believed in freedom of choice,” Djokovic said, according to Reuters.
“And I will reserve the decision of whether I am going to get vaccinated or not,” he said. “It is an intimate decision and I do not want to get into that game of pro and against vaccines that the media are unfortunately creating these days.
“I don’t want to be labeled as someone who is against or who is in favor of vaccines. I’m not going to answer the question … and I hope everyone respects that. ”
This is not the first time that the Serbian tennis player has been involved in a scandal related to covid-19 and his position on vaccines.
In June 2020, when there were still no vaccines available to fight the coronavirus around the world, Djokovic organized the Adria Tour exhibition tournament in Serbia.
What seemed to be the reopening of tennis before a world that was closing due to the pandemic, ended up being suspended. The tournament was played in stadiums full of public and practically without distance between players.
The tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 cases of Djokovic himself, his wife, 3 other players, including Grigor Dimitrov, 3 coaches, and the pregnant wife of a player.
Djokovic ended up apologizing after a wave of negative reactions to the tournament.
The tennis player’s family attacks the Australian government
After canceling his visa, the Australian government transferred Djokovic to a hotel in Melbourne that was previously used by the government as a COVID-19 quarantine facility. Now, the place is an alternative detention site for refugees and asylum seekers.
The tennis player’s family assured that the Australian authorities took all his belongings from Djokovic.
The tennis player’s brother, Drodje Djokovic, said during a press conference from Belgrade that the athlete “has not violated a single rule or law of the Australian Federal Government.”
After protests from his family, Karen Andrews, Australian Chancellor, denied that the tennis player was deprived of his liberty.
“Mr Djokovic is not a captive in Australia,” Andrews said Thursday. “He is free to leave anytime he wants. And our Border Force will effectively facilitate that.”
A diplomatic exchange
The Serbian Foreign Ministry expressed a “verbal protest” to Australia’s Ambassador to Serbia Daniel Emery over the Novak Djokovic case, the Foreign Ministry tweeted in a statement on Thursday.
The Ministry described what the tennis player is experiencing in Melbourne as “inappropriate and inhuman treatment.”
On Thursday, the Australian Ambassador was asked to attend a meeting with the Serbian Foreign Minister, according to a spokesman for Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
“Australian government officials are in communication with their Serbian counterparts, both in Belgrade and Canberra,” the Australian government said in a statement, adding that “no further comment will be made as these matters are currently before the court.”
Djokovic thanks his followers
A group of people who are against vaccine mandates gathered outside the Park Hotel in Melbourne where Novak Djokovic was staying.
Tennis fans supporting Djokovic, silent protesters against the treatment of asylum seekers and refugees in Australia and a group of Serbian-Australians in support of Djokovic were seen outside the hotel by the Citizen Free Press team.
The Serbian tennis player thanked people around the world for their “continued support” amid the furor over the cancellation of his visa and posted a message in Serbian and English on his Instagram account.
“Thank you to people around the world for your continued support. I can feel it and I am very grateful,” he said.
These are Djokovic’s first public comments since landing in Melbourne.
The family said the tennis player wishes to stay in Australia and “seek justice.”
Until this Friday, Djokovic was waiting for a judicial hearing that will define if he can stay to play the Australian Open.