Tennis world No. 1 Novak Djokovic was joined in Australian immigration detention by Czech women’s player Renata Voracova on Friday (January 7) in a row over COVID-19 vaccines that could scupper the Serbian’s shot at a record-breaking 21st Grand Slam.
Unlike Djokovic, whose determination to play in the Australian Open has rallied his homeland, 81st-ranked Voracova planned to leave the country after being held in similar circumstances, the Czech Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
“Renata Voracova decided to drop out of the tournament due to limited possibilities for training and to leave Australia,” it said, adding that it had made a diplomatic protest and that several other players were also at the modest Park Hotel.
Word up. From Novak Djokovic’s father. pic.twitter.com/xQu9OfiJZ2
— James Melville (@JamesMelville) January 6, 2022
Djokovic, widely criticised in 2020 for hosting a tournament as the COVID-19 pandemic was first raging, was detained at Melbourne’s airport on Wednesday. Authorities revoked a visa granted on the basis of a medical exemption from Australia’s strict COVID-19 vaccination requirements.
The initial decision to grant him entry outraged many in Australia, which is battling its worst surge of infections and where the adult vaccination rate is more than 90%. The Australian government pushed back on Friday against suggestions by Serbian supporters, including Djokovic’s family, that he was a prisoner. “He is free to leave at any time that he chooses to do so and Border Force will actually facilitate that,” Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews told reporters.
Djokovic’s lawyers won legal approval for him to remain until a full court hearing against the federal government on Monday. That should reveal more details about the exemption granted to Djokovic and the documentation he provided at the border to support it.
The 34-year-old has not revealed the grounds for the exemption and has consistently refused to disclose his vaccination status, while publicly criticising mandatory doses. Vaccines are not mandatory in Australia but are required for a range of activities. As he was confined for a second day to his room in the hotel, where several Afghan immigration detainees have been for months, Djokovic’s plight drew a mixed response the tennis world.
Former World No. 1 and two-time Australian Open champion Boris Becker said Djokovic, whom he has coached, was making a big mistake with his anti-vaccination stance. “It is one that threatens what remains of his career and his chance to cement himself as the greatest player of all time,” Becker wrote in the Daily Mail newspaper.
‘REALLY BAD’
Spanish champion Rafael Nadal told reporters in Melbourne he felt sorry for his rival “but at the same time, he knew the conditions since a lot of months ago.”
Australia’s Nick Kyrgios said he believed in vaccination “but how we are handling Novak’s situation is bad, really bad”.
Djokovic’s wife, Jelena, posted a photo on Instagram of the couple embracing on a beach to mark Orthodox Christmas, saying “the only law that we should all respect across every single border is love and respect for another human being”.
His father and the Serbian government have said his situation is a national affront.
Djokovic had received permission to enter Victoria without a vaccination from the state government, which does not have authority to issue visas to international visitors. While the reason for his exemption was not released, the Age newspaper reported it was because he had contracted COVID-19 in the past six months.
Tennis Australia and Victoria government officials said Djokovic had received no preferential treatment, adding that he was among a handful of approvals for exemptions in an anonymous and independent assessment of 26 applications.
Tennis Australia has not commented on the matter since Djokovic was detained. Some critics say Prime Minister Scott Morrison is using the issue to boost his pandemic-fighting credentials with an election looming, which the government denies.
At Monday’s hearing, a judge will seek to unravel the complexities of Australia’s federal system, under which states and territories can issue vaccine exemptions but the federal government controls international borders and can veto them.
The Professional Tennis Players Association, a breakaway players’ group launched by Djokovic in 2020, said they were in close contact with him. “Djokovic has verified his well-being to us,” the group said in a statement. “He has also requested that we allow him to personally share the facts of his detainment in his own words, and in his own time.”
Morrison said Tennis Australia had been advised weeks ago that a recent infection did not meet the criteria for exemption, even though a government task force that provides guidance on such matters had recommended that an infection in the past six months should be sufficient to qualify.
