After a last minute postponement and still having doubts about the participation of Novak Djokovic, 34, the Australian Open drew its keys this Thursday (13). The tournament will start on Monday (17).
The Serbian tennis player, world number one and nine-time Melbourne Grand Slam champion, could face fellow countryman Miomir Kecmanovic, 22, in the first round.
The confirmation of this game, however, still depends on a decision by the Minister of Immigration of the Australian government, Alex Hawke. It is up to him to determine whether or not to cancel the athlete’s visa, who, without being vaccinated against Covid-19, lives a long soap opera about his admission to the country.
No explanation was given for the delay of more than an hour of the draw, which was scheduled to take place at 3 pm local time and which began at 4:15 pm. In the meantime, a press conference was scheduled for the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, and it was speculated that some update on the Djokovic case could be announced there.
As this did not occur, the organizers proceeded with the draw. Tournament director Craig Tiley declined to answer questions at the end of the ceremony.
“Respected international journalists are now calling this a ‘temporary’ Australian Open draw,” tweeted former tournament director Paul McNamee. “Having been the tournament director for 12 years and knowing the enormous contributions of so many over the years, I have to say I don’t like our Grand Slam being made fun of.”
Hawke’s decision, which has discretionary powers to cancel the athlete’s visa, is now expected for this Friday (14). He would still be reviewing documents presented by Djokovic’s lawyers in recent days.
The tennis player’s legal team hopes that, even with an eventual negative decision for his client, it will still be possible to appeal to Justice throughout the weekend. The first round games are scheduled for Monday and Tuesday.
Djokovic received a vaccine exemption to enter the country granted by the tournament organizers and the Victorian state government, based on a positive test for the coronavirus carried out on December 16 in Serbia.
This authorization, however, is contested by the federal government, which does not consider recent infection as a valid criterion for dispensing with vaccination. That is why, last Thursday (6), he ordered the cancellation of his visa and his detention in a hotel.
On Monday (10), Federal Judge Anthony Kelly decided to release the tennis player after considering that he had been unfairly treated by immigration agents upon his arrival in the country. The athlete would not have been given enough time to contact lawyers and tournament organizers. In recent days, he has been able to train at Melbourne Park awaiting a decision.
In addition to the issue of vaccination, other points could affect the Serbian’s aspirations to seek the men’s record of 21 Grand Slam trophies in the coming weeks.
The Australian Border Force investigates discrepancies between the traveler form he submitted and his whereabouts in the days prior to arrival. In the document, the tennis player marked “no” when asked about having traveled in the previous 14 days, but at the end of the year he left Belgrade and went to Marbella, Spain, to finish his preparation. Djokovic said his agent made an “administrative error” in filling out the document.
The tennis player was also charged, including by Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, for failing to comply with mandatory isolation after testing positive for Covid-19 in December. He acknowledged having given an interview and participated in a photo shoot already with knowledge of the diagnosis.
A third complicating factor was raised by the German magazine Der Spiegel, which pointed out inconsistencies in the date of the PCR performed in Serbia from the information available in the URL associated with the QR code of the exam. According to the publication, these data suggest that the exam would have been done on the 26th, not the 16th.
audience reduction
The audience on the Australian Open courts will be limited to 50% of arena capacity for sessions that have not yet sold tickets above that limit, the Victorian government said on Thursday (13).
The state, which hosts the Grand Slam in the capital Melbourne, has reported 37,169 new cases of Covid-19 and 25 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Tickets already sold will remain valid, as announced by the tournament organization. Face masks will be mandatory for everyone present except when eating or drinking, and there will be guidelines for social distancing indoors.
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