Australia suspended the deportation of a Serbian player and there is concern in his team because the tournament will start this Monday.
Australia relaunched on Friday in a spectacular way the saga around the expulsion of Novak Djokovic after canceling again the visa of the number one in world tennis, who will not be deported until justice is pronounced.
Djokovic, 34, is aiming for his 21st win in a Grand Slam at Open de Australia, which begins on Monday, with which it would surpass the Spanish Reef Nadal and to the swiss Roger Federerabsent due to injury.
The Australian government decided this Friday to re-annul the visa of the number one in world tennis, arguing reasons of “health and public order”.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s executive is “strongly committed to protecting Australia’s borders, especially in this context of the pandemic of the COVID-19″, stated the Minister of Immigration, Alex Hawke, it’s a statement.
For Morrison, this measure safeguards “the sacrifices” made by Australians during the pandemic, in one of the countries that has applied the most severe restrictions in the world to stop the spread of COVID-19.
After this cancellation of the visa, the Serb may have banned from entering the country for three years, except under certain circumstances.
Postponement
But in a new twist to this judicial saga, the tennis player challenged this decision in an emergency hearing on Friday night.
Djokovic’s lawyer, Nick Wood, demanded that his expulsion be blocked and asked that he be allowed to continue outside the detention center for the duration of the process.
“We are very concerned about timing,” Wood said before the judge, with three days to go before the trial begins. Open de Australia.
Immediately, the Australian authorities decided to suspend his deportation and announced that he will not be taken to a holding center before he meets with immigration authorities on Saturday.
In Belgrade, Djokovic’s compatriots were surprised by the Australian government’s statements.
“Tell that a high-level athlete like Novak is a danger for Australians it’s absurd, it’s a scandal,” he said. Petar Stojanovic, a 28-year-old local official.
Ten days ago, Djokovic traveled to Australia having obtained a waiver from tournament organizers for having tested positive for COVID-19 in mid-December.
However, upon arrival in the country, the border authorities did not consider that a recent infection warranted an exception and they revoked Djokovic’s visa and sent him to a migrant detention center.
The tennis player was locked up there until Monday, when his lawyers managed to get an Australian judge to release him for a procedural error during his interrogation at Melbourne airport.
Since then, Djokovic trained normally at the Australian Open facilities, which on Thursday included him as the top seed in the draw for the draw.
This Friday, the Minister of Finance, Simon Birmingham, He insisted, before Hawke’s official decision, that Australia only allows entry to its territory for people with a full vaccination schedule or those with an accepted medical exemption.
“This policy has not changed and we will continue to enforce this policy rigorously.”, he stated on local ABC television.
He makes us pass for idiots
Djokovic recognized this week “errors” in the midst of the scandal. In a statement, he conceded that the travel declaration given to the authorities contained false information, but alleged that it was filled out by a member of his team.
also admitted having made the mistake of meeting with a journalist from the french newspaper The Team on December 18 even knowing that he was infected with coronavirus.
The case sows discrepancy also in the circuit. Some players consider that the authorities should allow the participation of the world number one, but others are not so receptive.
It is the case of the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, number four in the world, who accused the Serbian of “having played by his own rules.”
“That requires a lot of courage and puts the entire tournament in jeopardy.… I don’t think there are many tennis players who would have done the same,” he said in an interview with the Indian outlet WION.
Tsitsipas lamented that almost all the players in the Grand Slam they have been vaccinated, but “others have chosen to go their own way, which makes most of them look like idiots.”
This case has increased the pressure on Morrison’s Conservative government, which faces a general election in May.
During almost two years of pandemic, Australians have been subjected to very severe restrictions, with a strict border closure that has kept citizens abroad separated from their families for a long time. (D)
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