The Australian Open in Melbourne began last night – without Novak Djokovic. The day before the first tennis Grand Slam tournament of the year, the 20-time major winner was expelled from the country. Yesterday, the three federal judges unanimously rejected the unvaccinated Serb’s repeated objection to the cancellation of his visa. A precise justification for the judgment could follow today at the earliest, experts had already classified the legal chances of success of the nine-time Melbourne winner (record) as low.
“I am extremely disappointed with the decision”, explained the 34-year-old, who left Australia on a plane to Dubai that night (10:52 p.m. local time). This ended an inglorious cause that, since he failed to enter the country on January 5, has also stirred up feelings outside of the world of tennis. “I’m uncomfortable that I’ve been the focus for the past few weeks and I hope we can all focus on the game and the tournament that I love”, said Djokovic, who now wanted to let what happened sink in.
Outrage in Serbia
The rumbling took over anyway. from one “witch hunt”, “unprecedented harassment” as well as one generated by media “Lynch mood” said Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. Ana Brnabic, the country’s head of government, put it in a similarly undiplomatic way: “I think the court decision is scandalous. I think it shows how the rule of law works, or better not works, in some other countries.” Serbia’s media joined in the canon of outrage.
Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison naturally classified the verdict differently. This is for reasons of “health, safety and order” fallen, he wrote on Facebook. For the 53-year-old, who has been criticized for inadequate crisis management, the cause was a political acid test, as elections are due in May. The exception that Djokovic insisted on – entering the country unvaccinated after a corona infection within the past six months – was met with widespread incomprehension among Australians due to the strict pandemic course.
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Are other tournaments following suit?
Former tennis great Mats Wilander showed up from the exit “surprised and shocked” and saw Djokovic’s career in danger: “Now he has to do something he doesn’t really want to do.” You now have to look at how many tournaments Djokovic is allowed to play. “Ultimately, he has to be vaccinated”, the Swede continued. For example, New York, the venue of the US Open, is known for a strict corona course. The vaccination rate among tennis professionals is more than 97 percent.
After the expulsion of the defending champion, the race for the Melbourne tennis throne is open as rarely. Eight of the past 13 Grand Slam tournaments had fallen to Djokovic. Since Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka are injured, there is only one player in the grid, Rafael Nadal (2009), who has already won the tournament. Just the hard court event in “Down Under” has so far been relatively unsuccessful for the Spanish clay court specialist. Daniil Medvedev is now the tournament favorite. With a title, the number two seeded Russian could also displace Djokovic from the top of the world rankings.
Salvatore Caruso was pleased with the verdict. The Italian, who is currently 150th in the ATP ranking, slipped in place of Djokovic as “Lucky Loser” in the main draw of the Australian Open.
Source: Nachrichten
