Djokovic trains as Australian Open dream hangs in balance

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic talks to his team member during a training session in Melbourne yesterday. (AFP)

Tennis superstar Novak Djokovic trained at the Australian Open venue yesterday for his attempt to win a record 21st Grand Slam but his dream hung in the balance as the government pondered cancelling his visa, again. The world number one scored a surprise courtroom victory the day before, overturning the Australian government’s decision to cancel his visa on Covid-19 vaccination grounds. But the immigration minister said he may annul Djokovic’s visa once more. The 34-year-old Serbian ace says he is determined to stay in Melbourne and compete in the Australian Open, which starts on January 17. “I flew here to play at one of the most important events we have in front of the amazing fans,” Djokovic said on Instagram Monday. Wearing a T-shirt and shorts, he limbered up in a gym yesterday accompanied by coach Goran Ivanisevic before heading to centre court. Television cameras filmed him from helicopters as he played. Djokovic, a nine-time Australian Open champion, jetted into the country on January 5 carrying a medical exemption from vaccination due to a positive coronavirus test on December 16 last year. After overnight questioning at Melbourne airport, border officials decided the exemption was not valid, cancelled his visa and transferred him to a detention centre pending deportation. “I am not vaccinated,” Djokovic had told the border official, according to a transcript released by the court. He expressed bewilderment that his exemption, approved by two medical panels in Australia, was not accepted. The limited number of foreigners allowed into Australia must be fully vaccinated or have a medical exemption. The government insists that a recent infection does not count as an exemption. Federal circuit court judge Anthony Kelly dramatically reversed the visa decision Monday, ordering the cancellation be “quashed”, that the player be released immediately and that the government pay his legal costs. The government had surrendered after conceding that Djokovic’s airport interview was “unreasonable” because the player had not been given the promised time to respond. It was “the biggest victory in his career, bigger than all his Grand Slams”, his mother Dijana said at a press conference in Belgrade. Doubts emerged yesterday over the accuracy of Djokovic’s visa declaration, reportedly filled out before he flew in from Spain. A copy of his declaration showed a tick in the box to confirm he had not and would not travel in the 14 days before landing in Australia on January 5. There appears to be evidence he then travelled from Belgrade to Spain for the New Year period. Djokovic was pictured in Belgrade on December 25, with Serbian handball player Petar Djordjic. The photograph appeared on Djordjic’s Instagram page. Then, three days before arriving in Australia, Djokovic was pictured by a local newspaper playing at the Puente Romano club in Marbella, where he was staying in a villa. A spokesman for Australian Immigration Minister Alex Hawke said he was “considering whether to cancel Mr. Djokovic’s visa” by using his ministerial powers. But he would not comment further for legal reasons. Until Monday, Djokovic had been held at the former Park Hotel, a five-storey detention facility, which holds about 32 migrants trapped in Australia’s hardline immigration system. The ATP, which runs the men’s tennis tour, said the affair leading up to the court case had been “damaging on all fronts, including for Novak’s well-being and preparation for the Australian Open”. Tennis great Martina Navratilova said she believed Djokovic should be allowed to stay: “Though I disagree with not getting vaccinated; at the end of the day it seems Novak did play by the rules as they were for the exemption and was burned. Let him play.”