WTA ATP Aus Open 1/17 - 1/30 2022

[mick1303]

"Not a right type of visa"? And this is from government officials? This is kindergarten-level excuse. Not that I had any particular respect for these clowns to begin with, but they outdone the expectations.

[ti-amie]

[ti-amie]

[ashkor87]

Nobody is going to come out of this Djokovic saga looking good...what a PR disaster for everyone!! I certainly seem to have been wrong about his vaccination status..although he still could have taken one of the non-recognized ones like the Chinese version..

[ashkor87]

So either the official who said that Novax's petition followed the rules is lying or he tested positive for Covid in the last 6 months. Maybe he tested positive after the year end championships.

And this border thing is kind of funny. I can just see him fuming on his private jet.

Kevin

H played Davis Cup after the year-end championships. He was playing until early December. he had a 6-week break between the US Open and his next tournament. So unless he conveniently got Covid during one of those two windows (Sept or Dec) or was playing with Covid, he probably doesn't have it. An antibody test would set the record straight.

If he doesn't get in, his Slam days could well be over. It's either get the shot or stop playing tennis. So dramatic. Maybe he will invent a fifth Slam in Serbia.

Yes, would not be surprised if he retires now and goes into politics of some kind...

[dmforever]

Nobody is going to come out of this Djokovic saga looking good...what a PR disaster for everyone!! I certainly seem to have been wrong about his vaccination status..although he still could have taken one of the non-recognized ones like the Chinese version..

I think the Australian government will actually come out looking just fine. Public opinion is almost all against Novax, and for good reason. Most people are happy that no exception was made for him.

Kevin

[Deuce]

It remains to be explained, however, why he was granted the medical exemption, and then denied it (if that is indeed what happened).
Isn't it the same department which grants and denies the medical exemptions?

[ashkor87]

I listened to this press conference earlier today. One of the government officials seems to say that the documents they got had all the right stamps but that no effort was made to contact the actual doctors. I'm not sure if the documents were translated either.

https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1DXxyDbEgyEJM

Then it would be fraud...a very serious matter..let us hope not

[Deuce]

I'm hearing that he is now in a "quarantine detention hotel", and is scheduled to leave Australia at some point today.
And that he can possibly re-apply for entry into Australia.

[meganfernandez]

I'm hearing that he is now in a "quarantine detention hotel", and is scheduled to leave Australia at some point today.
And that he can possibly re-apply for entry into Australia.

I wonder if he can choose a 2-week quarantine in lieu of a medical exemption.

[JTContinental]

Reading between the lines of several articles/tweets/etc (but nothing official), it seems they may have been examining the "integrity" of his documentation to support an exemption

[Deuce]

I'm hearing that he is now in a "quarantine detention hotel", and is scheduled to leave Australia at some point today.
And that he can possibly re-apply for entry into Australia.

I wonder if he can choose a 2-week quarantine in lieu of a medical exemption.

I doubt it very much. If that were possible, we would have heard that by now - and other unvaccinated players likely would have tried that route.

I think they're just holding him in the 'quarantine detention hotel' because there's nowhere else to put him. They're certainly not going to allow him to roam free... they're not going to let him hang out in the airport - even supervised - because of A) the threat of virus transmission, and B) the possibility that 'fans' (both for and against Djokovic) would gather and create a chaotic situation.
So they just need a secure place to hold him until everything is officially settled in detail, and then they will escort him out of the country.

I still say that it reeks of amateurism that certain official entities apparently told him that he was good to enter the country (or the state of Victoria), and that he could play in the Aussie Open. Before telling someone this, you should be 100% sure that it is indeed the case - which obviously means checking with the people who ACTUALLY DECIDE whether people can enter the country/state or not.
At best, there seems to have been a serious lack of communication between various Australian parties here.

[meganfernandez]

I listened to this press conference earlier today. One of the government officials seems to say that the documents they got had all the right stamps but that no effort was made to contact the actual doctors. I'm not sure if the documents were translated either.

https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1DXxyDbEgyEJM

Then it would be fraud...a very serious matter..let us hope not

The official did say that the medical panel was not an investigative one, they were doctors reviewing records, so no, they didn't make any calls. Not sure it would have mattered if they were calling doctors who had falsified documents.

Anyway, the same official said something pretty weird. Saying she hopes Djokovic will do the Victorian people the courtesy of providing clarification (which no one else can, because of privacy), she told the press, "You'll all have the opportunity to attend press conferences with Novak over coming weeks, when he arrives and then when he's training and then when he hits the courts." Is she talking about future tournaments later in the year, outside of Australia? It would be weird to say "when he arrives" about other places, given how hyper-local the whole conversation was. I wonder if this isn't over, and she/the govt expects him to leave, reapply, and still play.

[Deuce]

... and, somewhat predictably, it gets more bizarre...

Some are saying that protesters have gathered outside the hotel he is being kept in (did not state if the protesters were pro-Djokovic, or anti-Djokovic).

And...

"Novak Djokovic has launched a last minute bid in the Federal Circuit Court to stop the federal government from deporting him ahead of the Australian Open."

A Court of a Different Sort...
(Stop the page from loading before it loads completely to avoid having to create an account to read it.)

.

[oliver0001]

Federal health authorities told Tennis Australia boss Craig Tiley on two occasions in writing that people who were not vaccinated and had contracted COVID-19 in the past six months would not be granted quarantine-free travel to Australia. …

In a letter sent to Mr Tiley on November 18, Department of Health First Assistant Secretary Lisa Schofield said that “people who have previously had COVID-19 and not received a vaccine dose are not considered fully vaccinated”.

Ms Schofield said such people would “not be approved for quarantine-free entry, regardless of whether they have received foreign vaccination exemptions”.

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/tennis/ ... 59mdp.html