The Novak Djokovic Circus

avatar

For the past few days the whole tennis world has been brewing over the Novak Djokovic case and at the moment of writing, the matter is not closed yet.

I've been following the events as just like millions of others I'm curious to see how it's going to end.

australian-open.webp
source

For those of you who are not familiar with the case, let me tell you as briefly as possible, what has happened till today.

The Australian Open tennis tournament is due to start at the 17th of January 2022. The Australian Government has made it clear that only vaccinated players are allowed to play.

Tennis Australia has sent a memo to players in December, in which there has been specified the conditions each player needs to meet in order to get a visa.

file-photo--file-photo--tennis---australian-open---melbourne--australia-1.jpg
source

The guessing about whether Djokovic is vaccinated or not has been going on for months. He has been avoiding the answer, but it has been known he's against vaccination. It is his right, no problem with that.

Long story short, because Tennis Association has said in that memo, that exemption to vaccination can be obtained, if the player has got covid and can produce a positive covid test. A few days after the memo, miraculously Djokovic got covid, so based on the test he got the exemption and the visa, which was cancelled upon arrival to Australia.

He's been held in a hotel for a few days and today a judge cancelled his visa cancellation on some technicality, saying he has not been given enough time to provide evidence of his medical exemption.

novak-djokovic-denied-entry-to-australia-has-visa-canceled_61d6c69830023.jpeg
source

At the moment of writing, Djokovic is free, he said he's going to address the public in 2 hours, but he's not out of the woods yet as the Immigration Minister still has the power to cancel the Serb's visa.

This is a highly controversial matter that is dividing the world. Everyone has an opinion, some say he should be let to play, others say he should be sent home as the rules are clear.

At the end of the day, if you have a bit of knowledge about how things work in the legal field, you know that what counts the most is what you can prove. This is now a high profile legal matter, Australia is in a difficult position as even last year the pubic was outraged about tennis players being allowed in the country while Australian citizens were stuck abroad because of the travel restrictions.

Why-Novak-Djokovic-Was-Blocked-From-Entering-Australia-1024x535.jpg
source

Now here is what I think. Djokovic got a visa, which turns out is not valid as he doesn't meet the requirements. It is not his fault after all as the responsible in this case is the person who has granted him the visa. As far as I'm concerned, they can cancel his visa and send him home if he can't meet the requirements. I don't see why anyone should get special treatment.

But what bothers me is the details that have come to light since the whole scandal has broken out.

According to the documents, Djokovic got covid on the 16th of December and there are social media posts from December 17 of Djokovic attending an award ceremony for children. There were no social distancing at the event, the Serbian tennis star is shown without a mask on the photos, hugging people.

As far as I know, each country requires a 10 to 14 day isolation in case of a positive test. Does those rules not apply to tennis stars in Serbia? So where is the responsibility in Novak's actions? When I first heard about his positive covid test, I knew something was not quite clear here and he has proven me right. Anyone could fake that test as the stake is high here and I don't think there has been a way to verify if the test is valid or not.

image.png

image.png

image.png
source

What I don't understand is what was he thinking? In the era of technology, anyone can trace back your steps easily, especially if you are a star like him and you are stupid enough to attend public events, pose for the press and your photos hit the internet with a breakneck speed. How stupid is that?

FIkVFD2XEAQC6rN.jpg
source

He's been one of my favorite tennis players for his conduct on the court and outside the tennis court. My admiration started to weaken last year, when he had some outbursts that were not exactly nice of him. Now with this whole charade he is doing, he lost me completely. As I said, granting him a visa was not his fault. But providing a (most likely bogus) positive covid test to get a visa does reflect poorly on him. And where is the Serbian Health Ministry on this? Is it ok to escape isolation over there? Or fake covid tests for that matter?

What's going to happen next, no one knows. If he's let to continue his journey, he may face some resistance on the court as I'm not sure everyone will be happy with the decision. Will he be able to put aside all that's happened to him and be at the highest level mentally? No one knows but till then, there's the last decision we're waiting for, from the Immigration Minister.

Last year there were special rules for players, there was no need for vaccination back then, but most of the players were placed in a 14 day quarantine, in a hotel and the possibility of training was limited. I remember the Australian Government said there will be no exceptions and they kept their word. Novak Djokovic made a request to be placed in a residence whit a tennis court to be able to train, which was rejected. This year I suppose there will be no quarantine, that's why they has asked for vaccination.

This is the matter of the moment and all the eyes are on Australia right now. I guess it's safe to say the Australian government is playing with its political career right now. Elections are due in four months or so. How this case plays out can count a lot at the next election.


I've watched the press conference organized by the Djokovic family, which was a total waste of time. What is worth to note is that when someone asked them about Novak attending public events a day after his positive test, Novak's brother said this conference is adjourned. What a surprise!

BBC said Novak is already at the tennis court training, as he has missed more than 5 days already.

Well, tomorrow will be a crucial day. Let's see what the Immigration Minister is going to do. The tournament organizer also needs a clear answer on whether he's going to play or not as schedules have to be made.



0
0
0.000
24 comments
avatar

This post has been manually curated by @steemflow from Indiaunited community. Join us on our Discord Server.

Do you know that you can earn a passive income by delegating to @indiaunited. We share 100 % of the curation rewards with the delegators.

Here are some handy links for delegations: 100HP, 250HP, 500HP, 1000HP.

Read our latest announcement post to get more information.

image.png

Please contribute to the community by upvoting this comment and posts made by @indiaunited.

0
0
0.000
avatar

You're spot on. Every time I was reading the news about his circus I was thinking (lucky Erika, you've got more material than you asked for 🙂). Count Tsitsipas in the same circus, he's not much different.

0
0
0.000
avatar

I wanted to stay out of it as it's a legal matter but when the details about when he got covid and him attending public events the next day came out, I could not resist. I don't even have words for it.

I suppose Tsitsipas got vaccinated in the meantime as there's no news about him and have seen him playing in Australia already.

0
0
0.000
avatar

I suppose Tsitsipas got vaccinated too but if you go back to what he was answering when asked if he's done his shots a while ago you can understand the "Djokovic" mentality. As for the latter, I agree with you, it's hard to comment him indeed.

0
0
0.000
avatar

If those people who he's taken photos with get covid, they can sue him. Then what? Would he say he didn't have covid?

0
0
0.000
avatar

Probably cause my guess is that he "got" covid when he got issues with his visa.

0
0
0.000
avatar

I did play Tennis for some time and I was amazed to hear that his visa is canceled.

0
0
0.000
avatar

And should have stayed cancelled. Let's see what's going to happen tomorrow.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Just in- He finally wins the visa appeal.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Nit exactly as the immigration minister has the right to cancel his visa. We'll see tomorrow.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Let’s keep our fingers crossed then, it’s really getting feisty.

0
0
0.000
avatar

I think he will play, his celebrity status is bringing in negative media reports about Australia and they will cave in.

0
0
0.000
avatar

I hope justice will be done and he will have his visa cancelled. He has lied on his application, which can bring him 12 months in prison. Let's see if the Australian government will do the right thing.

0
0
0.000
avatar

I think he will not get any jail time because of his celebrity status.

0
0
0.000
avatar

I don't see why anyone should get special treatment.

I agree.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Well I guess they can stick to their intital word and allow him play ad long as he presents the exemption. I think there is a lot of politics there too .

0
0
0.000
avatar

That exemption was wrongly obtained, based on false information. Tennis Australia sent out the wrong information.

There is a Czech woman who plays double who was in the same situation and was sent home. Djokovic got his visa cancelation reversed based on technicalities, which means the judge didn't say he's visa was obtained correctly.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Oh, not to mention he provided false information at the border, which can mean 12 months jail.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Ohh.. Now that may be a thing against him.

0
0
0.000
avatar

It's amazing all the media coverage this is getting here Down Under

0
0
0.000
avatar

It's going to get less and less coverage hopefully. It's time to put it to rest.

0
0
0.000