Tennis Australia bosses have been thrust into the spotlight as the blame game over who botched Novak Djokovic‘s visa continues with details slowly coming to light.
The world No.1 flew to Melbourne earlier this week believing he had been granted a medical exemption to enter the country and play in the Australian Open, but was dramatically denied entry at the airport before being told he faces deportation.
Blame initially fell on the Victorian state government which granted the exemption, believed to be on the basis that Djokovic had a past Covid infection. But it has since emerged that this only allowed him to play in the Open, not cross the border.
Craig Tiley, boss of Tennis Australia, is now under pressure to explain himself after it emerged the Department of Health sent him two letters back in November stating that a previous Covid infection would not be sufficient to enter the country.
Jacinta Allan, acting Victorian premier, said on Friday that Tiley had not informed the state of those warnings and added that enforcing border rules is a matter for the federal government – not individual states.
Amid the fallout from the decision, which has sparked street protests in Djokovic’s native Serbia led by his parents, wife Jelena broke her silence to lend support to her husband on Twitter – writing: ‘Thank you dear people, all around the world for using your voice to send love to my husband.
Bombshell documents show Tennis Australia boss Craig Tiley was informed not once but twice that having a previous Covid diagnosis would not satisfy border officials
‘I am taking a deep breath to calm down and find gratitude (and understanding) in this moment for all that is happening.
‘The only law that we should all respect across every single border is Love and respect for another human being. Love and forgiveness is never a mistake but a powerful force.’
Djokovic is currently holed up in a Covid detention hotel – likened to a ‘torture chamber’ – near Melbourne airport where he will remain until at least Monday when an appeal against the decision to tear up his visa will reach the courts.
Protesters, both supporting and opposing the treatment of the star athlete, have gathered outside while police stand guard at the hotel doors.
Ms Allan, speaking out after the letters to Tennis Australia came to light, said today: ‘It is the Commonwealth government … that’s responsible for issuing visas and how they engage in that dialogue with bodies like Tennis Australia is a matter for them.’
Allan reiterated that her government only assesses the eligibility of players wanting to take part in the tournament after crossing the border.
‘That is very much separate from the visa process,’ Allan said.
This came as the Australian Open was dealt a further blow as Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews revealed two other international arrivals were being investigated after travelling to Australia in similar circumstances for the Open.
‘I can confirm the Australian Border Force is conducting its inquiries … I am aware that there are two individuals currently being investigated by Australian Border Force,’ Andrews told Channel Seven.
Andrews said anyone entering Australia had to show evidence of vaccination or medical reasons why they are not vaccinated.
‘We do have the intelligence to indicate there are some individuals here now that have not met the entry requirements and we have to investigate that,’ Andrews said earlier on the Nine Network.
‘I know there is a lot of chatter about the visa. The visa, on my understanding, is not the issue, it is the entry requirement.
‘The Border Force has been very clear that he (Novak) was not able to meet the requirement to provide the evidence he needed for entry to Australia.’
Beyond the quiet of Djokovic’s hotel, the outcry in his native Serbia is growing with his family saying he had been ‘held captive’ and insisting the treatment of one of sport’s greatest performers was a disgrace.
His family complained about the hotel as around 300 fans held a rally in front of the country’s parliament building in the capital Belgrade,
‘It’s just some small immigration hotel, if we can call it a hotel at all. Some bugs, it’s dirty, and the food is so terrible,’ Djokovic’s mother Dijana said in a press conference.
His father Srdjan promised the crowd the protests would be held every day until Djokovic was released.
Nearer to home, former Davis Cup player Paul McNamee who ran the Australian Open from 1995 until 2006 as tournament director, joined those who think the 34-year-old deserved his day on court, not in court.
‘It’s not fair. The guy played by the rules, he got his visa, he arrives, he’s a nine-time champion and whether people like it or not he’s entitled to fair play,’ McNamee told ABC News.
‘There’s no doubt there’s some disconnect between the state and the federal government. I hate to think politics are involved but it feels that way.’
Djokovic, one of the greatest tennis players of all time, has garnered headlines in recent years for his stance on Covid vaccines that has enhanced his reputation as a polorising figure.
He first spoke out against vaccination back in April 2020, when the first wave of Covid was spreading and before a jab had even been developed, to say he was not in favour of getting one.
His father doubled down on allegations that Mr Morrison is ‘playing politics’. ‘This has nothing to do with sports, this is a political agenda,’ Mr Djokovic senior said
He was whisked away from his party by federal border force officials, who after hours of interrogations tore up his visa and publicly announced he’d be on a flight home to Europe no later than Thursday
Further controversy came in June when he hosted a Balkans tennis tournament with no mask wearing or social distancing measures in place that led to several players – including himself – getting infected with Covid.
As vaccines were rolled out last year and travel rules relaxed for those who had taken the jab, Djokovic remained silent about his own status – leading many to suspect he had not been jabbed and would not be allowed to play at the Australian Open.
But come December, his name was announced on lists for both the Open and the warm-up ATP Cup – with Tennis Australia revealing earlier this month that he had been granted a medical exemption.
That prompted a furious backlash from Australians who have been suffering under some of the world’s strictest virus control measures for two years, including tight border rules and bans for the unvaccinated.
Amid the furor, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on Wednesday that Djokovic’s visa had been cancelled at the airport and he would be sent home.
While the decision delighted Djokovic’s critics and many ordinary Australians, it also sparked recriminations for Mr Morrison, finger-pointing between the bodies involved, and allegations of political grandstanding.
Djokovic’s father insists he’s being ‘kept in captivity… to stomp all over Serbia and Serbian people’ in a fiery speech which also likened the sportsman to Jesus.
‘Jesus was crucified on the cross … but he is still alive among us,’ Srdjan said. ‘They are trying to crucify and belittle Novak and throw him to his knees.’
The comments came as Djokovic’s parents slammed ‘idiot’ Australian officials for detaining him in a refugee hotel as a bitter war of words erupted after the tennis star had his visa cancelled.
Srdjan railed against his ‘imprisonment’ saying he is the victim of a ‘political attack’, having been made a ‘scapegoat’ of Australia’s harsh vaccine rules.
He called on Serbians and people all around the world to ‘rise up’ and challenge the politicians and border agents who want to ‘humiliate’ their sporting star.
Less than six weeks after Covid was first declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation, Novak Djokovic took part in an April 2020 Facebook live stream with fellow Serbian athletes to express his doubts over vaccines
And the tennis ace’s mother weighed in to say her son is being treated ‘like a prisoner’ in a Melbourne hotel used as refugee housing.
Dijana revealed she had briefly spoken to her son over the phone as he remains holed up in the Park Hotel in Carlton, Melbourne.
‘I spoke with him a couple of hours ago, he was good, we didn’t speak a lot but we spoke for a few minutes. He was trying to sleep, but he couldn’t,’ she said.
‘As a mother, what can I say, you can just imagine how I feel, I feel terrible since yesterday, the last 24 hours.’
But deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce hit back, saying Djokovic must be deported if he lied on his medical exemption form, accusing him of taking Australia ‘for a joke’.
He said ‘rich people are not above the law’ as Djokovic remains in the Park Hotel until Monday awaiting the outcome of an appeal against his eviction, to be held on Monday at 10am local time.
His exemption was given by two independent medical bodies, in a process organised by the state of Victoria and Tennis Australia, who are running the Australian Open, but the experts do not have the final say.
The exemption was based only on information provided by Djokovic, which was taken at face value, and it still had to be confirmed by border officials at the airport, but they refused Djokovic entry.
Speaking about the fraught situation, Mr Joyce told BBC’s Newshour: ‘If he hasn’t filled out the forms appropriately then he’s taking the sovereign capacity of another nation for a joke.
‘You can’t just wander around the world thinking that because you’re really rich you’re really above the laws of other nations.’
But Djokovic’s father Srdjan has hit back at ‘idiot’ Australian officials who he accuses of wanting to ‘humiliate’ the star, saying the other tennis players with a medical exemption were able to enter the country freely.
He said in a press conference today: ‘Novak and his team filed the same type of documents as those 25 other tennis players and they didn’t have any problems, just Novak.
‘They want to humiliate him. They could have said, “don’t come Novak” and that would have been OK. But no, they wanted to humiliate him and they’re still keeping him in prison.
‘He’s not in detention, he’s in prison. They took all of his stuff, even his wallet. They left him with just a phone and no change of clothes, nowhere to wash his face. He’s in prison. Our pride is a prisoner of these idiots.
‘Shame on them, the whole free world together with Serbia should rise. For freedom of expression, free speech, freedom of behaviour.’