Talk About Tennis 2.0

ti-amie wrote: ↑Thu Jan 13, 2022 5:15 am Stuart Fraser
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Journalists have now been permitted entry to the room. Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley among the officials on stage preparing for the start of the draw shortly.

That man must know where actual bodies are buried and a tape of the murder. No signs of even getting reprimanded for how he handled all of this.

I'm waiting for the draw to be posted on the AO site. What a s**t show tonight has been.

ti-amie wrote: ↑Thu Jan 13, 2022 1:46 am

I read the AP article about this and it seems like it's not a real 50% attendance. It's 50% of what hasn't already sold up to that level, so the crowds may not seem that small and the atmosphere may not be greatly affected. There's no plans to cancel tickets that have already been sold.

There are a lot of serious issues going on about Djokovic, but the outrage at the draw being delayed for a couple of hours is farcical in itself.

I mean, who cares? Can anyone explain in a credible manner why that detracts from anything in the least?

Maybe the optics that it looked as if the PM may say something about Novax, and TA was waiting to take evasive action? It seems right now, to me, that they really care more about Novax than the other 255 players in the singles draws. The mission objective is just to get him to play, all else be damned.
So holding this for a while may look to some as more favoritism towards him.

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 13, 2022 7:23 pm Maybe the optics that it looked as if the PM may say something about Novax, and TA was waiting to take evasive action? It seems right now, to me, that they really care more about Novax than the other 255 players in the singles draws. The mission objective is just to get him to play, all else be damned.
So holding this for a while may look to some as more favoritism towards him.

It was the optics of the situation. The press was thrown out of the room AFTER the news got to tennis twitter about the PM's presser. Of course there would be drama.

It was asked why, if the hold up was the ATP draw why not release the women's draw during the wait. Of course nothing of the sort happened and which draw came out first? The WTA draw.

As was said here I wouldn't want Craig Tiley flipping burgers for me.

This is an interesting article in that it mentions that the tournament is in chaos and also tells what will happen with the draw if (hopefully when) Djokovic is removed from it permanently.
It indicates that a Lucky Loser will simply be inserted into Djokovic's spot. (I guess he could tell his grandchildren one day that he was once the 'top seed' at the Australian Open!)

https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/australian- ... 06461.html

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By citing the risk of unrest as the reason to ban Djokovic, the Australian government appears to have missed the implications..if they can ban players because other people may agree with them, where does it end? They would have no right to host a Grand Slam event if that is really their position!

Yes. They keep missing the simplest point: You are NOT vaccinated, you do not come in.
And I would side with Novax in that defense. What people decide to do because of his actions/inactions is not his responsibility. He is not, after all, the sole anti-vaxxer in the world.

ashkor87 wrote: ↑Sat Jan 15, 2022 5:18 am By citing the risk of unrest as the reason to ban Djokovic, the Australian government appears to have missed the implications..if they can ban players because other people may agree with them, where does it end? They would have no right to host a Grand Slam event if that is really their position!

Yes - this strikes me as being odd, as well...
You would think it would simply be black and white: Foreign travelers must be fully vaccinated in order to be permitted entry to Australia. And if that's the case, Djokovic is not permitted entry - end of saga (actually, the saga never would have occurred).

What the Australian government seems to be saying is that by allowing Djokovic to enter the country, that could influence people into believing that the unvaccinated have more rights than they actually have, and that it could influence people to not get vaccinated, which would then put a strain on the health system.
This seems to be an odd approach, as it may set a precedent - such as if a famous singer who smokes enters the country, it could influence people - particularly teenagers - to start smoking, which would then lead to more people in hospitals with lung cancer, etc.

Who knows? The way this idiocy is going, maybe this is a deliberately weak case. Perhaps they're trying to have their cake and eat it, too (which is typical of politicians)... maybe it's a calculated move by the Australian government to deceive the people into thinking that they're actually trying to kick Djokovic out, but they don't really want to kick him out... So they bring a weak case, hoping to lose, but also hope they are able to convince the Australian people that they tried.

Anything's possible with this circus.

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Do we know when the schedule for day 1 was originally supposed to be released? Have they said when they will release the OOP? (Have the organizers indicated that they will wait for the ruling of the federal court?)

Deuce wrote: ↑Sat Jan 15, 2022 3:56 am This is an interesting article in that it mentions that the tournament is in chaos and also tells what will happen with the draw if (hopefully when) Djokovic is removed from it permanently.
It indicates that a Lucky Loser will simply be inserted into Djokovic's spot. (I guess he could tell his grandchildren one day that he was once the 'top seed' at the Australian Open!)

https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/australian- ... 06461.html

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No, that's only true if Djokovic (or any seed) is out after the first day's match schedule is released. If there's a "withdrawal" before then, there's a shuffling of seeds up the draw (number five into Djokovic's spot, number nine into five's spot, etc.).