Novak Djokovic and the Australian Open 2022: The end of the drama
The visa drama surrounding Novak Djokovic is finally over, sport is now back in the foreground in Melbourne. Nevertheless, questions remain unanswered - about Djokovic's future and also about that of Australian Open boss Craig Tiley.
by Jörg Allmeroth
last edit: Jan 16, 2022, 01:34 pm
In the end, there was only one winner in this big mess, although in truth he was also a loser: Salvatore Caruso, a 29-year-old Italian with a well-sounding name, was the unlikely and lucky lottery winner in the tiresome Novak Djokovic affair.
In the qualifying competition for the Australian Open, the tennis nobody was eliminated from world number 150, but when the final verdict in Djokovic's case against the defending champion was spoken in Melbourne on Sunday evening, Signore Caruso suddenly found himself as a lucky loser (replacement by lot). The main field of the multi-million dollar Grand Slam spectacle again - abruptly profited from the world number one, who was banned from the fifth continent, who was brought to the airport under the direction of the Australian Federal Police and had to leave his long-standing tennis paradise in an Emirates machine in the direction of Dubai.
The final act of the week-and-a-half saga surrounding Djokovic's entry to the Australian Open 2022 had previously ended at 5:45 p.m. in a federal court in Melbourne - at the moment when the presiding judge James Allsop (68) announced that Djokovic's objection to the second withdrawal of his visa was rejected by the Ministry of Immigration by the three-person judges. The federal court promised a more detailed justification for this decision for Monday at the earliest. However, the ministry's decision was not illegal, explained "Chief Justice" Allsop, that's what it was all about: "It's not our role to judge whether the executive's decision was wise." Australia's Immigration Minister Alex Hawke had his primary approach justified by the fact that Djokovic's stay in the country and his participation in the Australian Open could promote anti-vaccination sentiment, the Serb has now become an icon for opponents of vaccination.
Novak Djokovic before important decisions
As if he and his lawyers had already expected the legal defeat and the due deportation from Australia, the nine-time Melbourne triumphant Djokovic announced a first statement almost immediately after the verdict. The 34-year-old champion said he was "extremely disappointed" with the decision. He also feels uncomfortable with the thought "that I have been the focus of the past few weeks: "I hope that we can all concentrate on the game and the tournaments that I love." He will now "time take to rest and recover.”
However, it will not be any easier for Djokovic in the next few weeks: Because only vaccinated players can start at the big tournaments in the American spring, i.e. the top events in Indian Wells and Miami. As the season progresses, Djokovic, the number one player in his sport, is likely to face major hurdles if he continues to refuse vaccination against the corona virus. The ATP Tour, the global players' organization, had already warned all players in November that without vaccination they would face considerable difficulties in the 2022 season - up to and including being refused entry into most competitions. However, according to the ATP, 97 percent of the players are vaccinated, if Djokovic had won in court he would apparently have been the only unvaccinated player in the competition.
Almost two weeks ago, Djokovic was denied an entry visa by federal government border officials at Tullamarina Airport in Melbourne - arriving from Dubai. A special permit, which a medical expert commission had also issued to him from the state of Victoria, was not recognized at the time. It later became clear that Djokovic referred to a virus infection he had survived on December 16, 2021 for the special approval. In a first trial, Djokovic was right, but only for formal reasons - because the border guards had not given him enough time to discuss the case with his lawyers, among others. He was also able to leave the rather unadorned deportation hotel in Melbourne's Carlton district, which he had ended up in.
While the Immigration Ministry allowed several days to pass before deciding on another visa withdrawal, Djokovic got caught up in contradictions several times in the sensational drama. He also had to apologize for attending public meetings in his hometown of Belgrade after his infection, for example at a meeting with journalists from the French journal L'Equipe on December 18. The date of his positive test was also questioned during a digital search for clues.
Djokovic-Aus - what does that mean for the Australian Open?
Temporarily, however, Djokovic's stay in Melbourne seemed like an earlier tournament normality: the so-called "Capitano" trained until Friday evening on the Australian Open Courts with sparring partners or coaches from his service team, and he also tried to catch up on the training deficit in weight and fitness rooms . Then, however, came the decision of the Immigration Ministry, which ultimately led to Djokovic's banishment. Theoretically, the verdict could even lead to Djokovic being banned from entering the country for three years, but the government could also free him from this in a kind of pardon.
The Djokovic legal dispute is now over, but the aftermath for the Grand Slam Festival at the National Tennis Center will remain noticeable until the Sunday after next. Djokovic's departure results in a massive imbalance in the tableau, with the Italian Matteo Berrettini (world rankings: 7) remaining in the upper quarter before the first rallies as the highest-ranked player and the only top ten professional. In the second quarter, on the other hand, Alexander Zverev, the German number one, has to struggle with the other top ten rivals Rafael Nadal and Hubert Hurkacz, for example.
What is Craig Tiley blooming now?
The global tennis caravan had recently followed the bitter and tough struggle of the unvaccinated world number one with increasing displeasure. Top players like Rafael Nadal or the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas complained about the attention that the Djokovic case drew from actual tennis events. Nadal, the Spanish matador, made it clear how superfluous he thought the whole process was: "If Novak had been vaccinated, everything would have been very easy for him."
Other top players also shook their heads, not least because they acknowledged that they had been “quite privileged” during the almost two years of the pandemic: “We cannot fly around the world and compete in tournaments if we are unvaccinated. And if we don't follow the rules of the respective countries," explained a top 30 player from Western Europe, who didn't want his name mentioned. The role of the organizing association "Tennis Australian" and tournament director Craig Tiley, who had been trying to get the controversial exemptions behind the scenes, was all the more in twilight. "For the Grand Slam bosses, this will certainly have an aftermath," said Melbourne's tabloid Herald Sun.
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