Djokovic, Australia and vaccine waiver: what we know so far

Novak Djokovic’s situation in Australia, awaiting a trial that will determine whether he can enter the country to participate in the Australian Open or be deported, has moved the sports news in these early days of 2021.

Since Tuesday (4) there have been back-and-forths related to the fact that the number 1 tennis player in the world tries to enter the country with a certificate that would exempt him from proving vaccination against Covid-19.

Currently, he has his visa canceled and detained in a quarantine hotel in Melbourne, where he must remain until Monday (10), the date set for the trial. The tournament won by the Serbian nine times starts next week with the qualifiers. The main brackets will start on the 17th.

Understand the main movements of the case and its points still open:

Who can enter Australia today? Australian citizens, residents and eligible visa holders can enter the country if they are fully vaccinated against Covid-19. If they are not, it is necessary to request an exemption from the local authorities. If the person cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons, they must provide evidence of this.

Were the Australian Open participants subject to the same rules? Yes. Tennis Australia, the sport’s authority in the country and organizer of the Australian Open, together with the government of the state of Victoria, where the city of Melbourne, host of the tournament is located, appointed two independent panels of medical experts. It was up to them to analyze the requests for exemption from proof of vaccine made by the participants of the championship.

Has Djokovic been granted a permit to go to the country? According to Tennis Australia (TA) and the Government of Victoria, the tennis player’s request for proof of vaccination waiver has been accepted. The information was released on Tuesday (4).

What was Djokovic’s medical justification? It is not known officially, because neither he nor the organizers gave details. The list of exemption parameters informed by the tournament includes as qualifiers the risk of serious heart disease due to inoculation, other adverse reactions and the record of a Covid-19 infection in the last six months. According to Australian media outlets, the most likely hypothesis is that the athlete requested a waiver for having been infected in that time period.

So is this a valid reason for dismissal? As announced by TA and Victoria, it would be a valid reason. But not so for the federal government. The Australian newspaper The Age had access to two letters from federal health authorities forwarded to the tournament’s organizers in November that apparently went unheeded.

On 18 November, Lisa Schofield of the federal Department of Health wrote to Australian Open director Craig Tiley that “people who have already had Covid-19 and have not received a dose of the vaccine are not considered fully vaccinated.” According to her, such people “would not be approved for entry without quarantine, regardless of whether they received foreign vaccination exemptions.”

Greg Hunt, Minister of Health, reinforced the message to Tiley on 29 November. “I can confirm that people who have contracted Covid-19 within six months and seek to enter Australia from abroad, and have not received two doses of a vaccine approved in the country, are not considered fully vaccinated.”

It is unclear whether this information was passed on by the TA to tennis players and other tournament participants, nor whether the prospect of a 14-day quarantine for Djokovic was ever discussed.

Is there a conflict of competence between the federal and state governments? Under Australian law, states and territories may issue exemptions from vaccination requirements to enter their jurisdictions. However, the federal government controls international borders and can challenge such exemptions.

Why was Djokovic barred anyway? Armed with his medical exemption granted by the TA and Victoria, Djokovic arrived in Melbourne on Wednesday night (5), local time. Officials from the Australian Border Force (ABF) asked the tennis player to present the evidence that justified the exemption of the vaccine, but considered it insufficient to allow him to enter the country.

“Djokovic did not provide adequate evidence to meet Australia’s entry requirements, and his visa was subsequently cancelled,” they said. Prime Minister Scott Morrison stressed that “rules are rules, especially when it comes to our borders.”

This entire process took more than six hours, and the tennis player spent the night detained in a room at Melbourne airport. His father Srdjan told Serbian media that the athlete was under armed guard and without access to his cell phone. The ABF denied this last information.

Was there a problem applying for the visa, too? According to the Australian press, a member of Djokovic’s team requested a type of visa for his entry into the country that would not apply to those who received the vaccine waiver. After finding the error, ABF contacted the state government of Victoria, partner in organizing the tournament, to try to solve the problem while the athlete was flying, but the attempt to contact did not receive a positive response. It is not clear, however, if this problem was directly related to the tennis player not being allowed to enter.

What happened after the visa was cancelled? The government’s idea was that Djokovic would be deported as early as Thursday (6), but his lawyers managed to reach an agreement for him to stay in the country at least until a hearing on the case is held, scheduled for Monday (10). . The athlete’s defense hopes to overturn the decision to cancel the visa in federal court.

He is now in a quarantine hotel in Melbourne, where other people are also detained for immigration problems.

Judge Anthony Kelly said he is willing to handle the case swiftly but will not be swayed by Tennis Australia’s preference that the matter be resolved by Tuesday.

Why doesn’t Djokovic talk about his vaccination status? Last October, the Serbian said he considers this a private matter and that questions on the topic are inappropriate.

In April 2020, even before the Covid-19 vaccine was a reality, he declared himself against the mandatory immunization to compete on the circuit. “Personally, I’m against vaccination and I wouldn’t want to be forced by someone to get a vaccine in order to travel.”

“I’m not an expert, but I want to have the option to choose what’s best for my body,” he said in another demonstration on the subject.

His history of statements against scientific evidence and the little attachment to the health measures recommended during the pandemic generated the nicknames “Djocovid” and “Novax”, a play on the words “no” and “vaccine”, in English.

Have there been other requests for medical exemptions among Australian Open participants? The tournament’s organization confirmed that it received 26 requests among the approximately 3,000 participants, including players, coaches, referees and other professionals. The number of exemptions accepted was not disclosed.

The twist of the Djokovic episode raised the question of whether there were other similar cases. Australian Border Force officials confirmed that they are investigating the situation of another player and referee who also entered the country with exemptions.

What will be the sporting impacts if Djokovic does not play in the tournament? The Australian Open could be the tennis player’s second chance to break the record tally of Grand Slam titles among men. Currently, Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have 20 trophies each in these tournaments. Without the Serbian, nine-time winner in Melbourne, the men’s singles bracket is much more open, with the presence of Nadal and the Russian Daniil Medvedev as the number 1 seed.

What is the political and diplomatic context involved in the case? The news of Djokovic’s medical exemption, first shared by him on social media in a triumphant tone, provoked outrage in Australia and made the prime minister, Scott Morrison, suddenly take a hard speech against the tennis player. Analysts in the Australian press say that the government was pressured to act for the cancellation of the visa to calm public opinion at a time when the country, considered one of the most successful in combating the pandemic, suffers from a record number of cases of Covid-19. 19.

In foreign policy, the issue caused friction between Australia and Serbia. “I told our Novak that the whole of Serbia is with him and that we are doing everything to ensure that the harassment of the best tennis player in the world ends immediately,” said the president of the European country, Aleksandar Vucic.

What do Djokovic’s supporters say? His lawyers have yet to explain the reasons for Djokovic’s waiver request and the reasons why the documents he submitted were considered insufficient by the Australian government.

The family organized a raucous press conference, followed by a protest in Belgrade, and called the tennis player a victim of political interests.

“They are holding him captive. They are stepping into Novak to attack Serbia and the Serbian people,” said Djokovic’s father, Srdjan. “This has nothing to do with sports, it’s a political agenda. Novak is the best player and the best athlete in the world, but several hundred million Westerners can’t stand that.”