Australia’s Disgraceful Treatment of Djokovic
Tennis world #1 victim of political games.
When Novak Djokovic embarked on his journey to Melbourne, no one could have predicted the debacle awaiting him at the Australian border. After landing in the ‘land down under’, Djokovic was held at the airport for several hours before having his visa cancelled and subsequently being detained and moved to the infamous Park Hotel (used since 2020 as an immigration detention center).
Not long after, Scott Morrison, Australia’s prime minister, stepped out before the press to make an official statement regarding the 9-time Australian Open champion: “On the issue of Mr. Djokovic, rules are rules”. He continued, claiming that a medical exemption, needed by an individual to enter the country (if they do not have proof of vaccination), “was not in place”.
This is blatantly false. Djokovic was awarded a medical exemption by two independent medical panels, organised by Tennis Australia in conjunction with the Victoria State Government. The Australian Border Force was told as much and allowed Djokovic to call Tennis Australia at 8 am to corroborate this. However, the officers instead ended up cancelling Djokovic’s visa preemptively at 07:42 am, lest Tennis Australia might confirm that a medical exemption had been granted. After all, this was never actually about following the rules, but about Morrison making an example out of an anti-vax celebrity receiving alleged special treatment.
At this point, it is important to mention that medical exemptions are granted through a blind review process. This means that the panels had no idea they awarded an exemption to the tennis world #1. There is, however, one player that was given special treatment: Rafael Nadal. As stated on the Australian Government’s Department of Health website, for an individual to enter the country, it has to have “been at least 14 days since there was a first positive result of a PCR test”. Nadal tested positive on the 20th of December, yet arrived in Australia on the 31st of December. The key difference? One was vaccinated, one was not.
Returning to the Djokovic saga, after the visa cancellation was overturned in court, the Australian immigration minister, Alex Hawke, did what any sensible man might do: he decided to ignore his own country’s immigration rules and double down by cancelling the tennis player’s visa again. This time, however, it was justified on the basis of “public interest”, as Djokovic’s presence in the country may “foster anti-vaccination sentiment”. Actually, that was Hawke’s justification; PM Morrison seems not to have had a chance to catch up on the case, as he repeated the debunked claim that Djokovic did not have a medical exemption.
In any case, Novak Djokovic has since been deported and will not compete in this year’s Australian Open, for reasons not of public health or interest, but rather to score Morrison a political win. The Australian PM used the Djokovic case to showcase his tough stance on anti-vaxxers and appeal to the Australian public (90+% of whom are vaccinated). Deporting Djokovic was a desperate showcase of gung-ho politics to distract from the Morrison government’s mismanagement of the COVID crisis and boost his chances of reelection this year. It seems to have worked, given that “78 per cent of Coalition voters” and “64 per cent of uncommitted voters” supported the deportation. Morrison is not the first politician to persecute unvaccinated people for political gain (think of Macron vowing to “piss off” the unvaccinated). Unfortunately, he will also most likely not be the last.
At the end of the day, whether you agree with Djokovic’s decision to get vaccinated or not (I myself am fully vaccinated), there is no denying that Australia’s treatment of him was not befitting of the tennis champion he is. He followed all the rules, was invited into the country, and then paraded around like a common criminal, before being booted out of the country. A victim of a cruel political game.