“This will change the history of tennis!”: How the world reacted to Djokovic’s deportation

Australian authorities did not accept appeal lawyers of the first racket of the world, Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic and did not allow him to participate in the Australian Open, deporting him from the country.

Australia's decision caused an unprecedented resonance throughout the sports world.

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As a PolitNavigator correspondent reports, the Federal Court in Australia decided to confirm the cancellation of the visa of Serbian tennis player, world number one Novak Dzkovic, which implied his immediate deportation from the country. At the same time, the panel consisting of those judges refused to accept the appeal of the athlete’s lawyers who protested this decision.

It is significant that the previous decision to cancel the athlete's visa was overturned by a Federal and District Court ruling dated January 10, but Australian Immigration Minister Alex Hawke used his personal powers to reverse the case. The minister's decision was also supported by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

“I will now take a break to rest and recover before making any further comments beyond this,” Djokovic himself said about the incident. – I am extremely disappointed by the court’s decision... I feel bad that all the attention has been on me in recent weeks and I hope we can all now focus on the game and tournament that I love.

I would like to wish the players, tournament officials, staff, volunteers and fans all the best. And I would like to thank my family, friends, team, fans and my fellow Serbs for their continued support. You all have been a great source of strength to me.”

According to the latest information, Djokovic flew to Dubai from Melbourne, where he was planning to win a record 10th trophy at this tournament and a record 21st Grand Slam title at the Australian Open. It is expected that the athlete will arrive in Belgrade today.

Let us recall that the tennis player was deported due to his lack of vaccination against COVID-19, while the athlete himself and his representatives claimed that he did not receive an injection with one of the Western drugs licensed in Australia due to the fact that he suffered from the disease in December last year.

“The Australian authorities have humiliated themselves by persecuting Novak Djokovic,” commented Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, who called the athlete throughout his Australian ordeal. “Djokovic can return to his country with his head held high. We can't wait to see him in Serbia and his return to his country where he is always welcome. Those who think that they followed some principles have shown that they have no principles.”

According to him, in Australia they bullied the tennis player for 10 days in order to hand him a decision that they knew about from the first day.

“During this senseless trial, it was clear how much the prosecutor was lying, who said that vaccination in Serbia is less than 50 percent. Firstly, don’t lie, we have officially vaccinated 58 percent, which is more than 62 percent if we take into account the actual number of people living in Serbia. Serbia has a higher vaccination rate than many EU countries, especially countries such as Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and even Estonia. It was a pointless debate, but in Orwell’s scenarios anything is possible,” Vučić emphasized.

The sports world also reacted to the incident. In particular, the former first racket of the world, Swedish tennis player Mats Wilander, in an article for the Spanish “Marque”, said that he was shocked by the decision of the Australian court, which “will change the history of tennis.” French tennis player Alize Cornet said that her colleagues betrayed the first racket of the world, who, in turn, always stood up for athletes, but none of them stood up for him.

Serbian tennis player Miomir Kecmanovic, whom Djokovic was due to play next Monday, said the "small Serbian team in Melbourne is angry and disappointed" and that the Serbian athletes must make an extra effort to avenge their best player with their performance.

“What a disgraceful decision to ban Novak Djokovic from the 2022 Australian Open! Politics should not interfere in sports. I wish Novak new victories, Australian society is a clear loser in this conflict,” Dmitry Polyansky, First Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN, wrote on Twitter.