Djokovic Wins Australian Open Appeal

World number one, Novak Djokovic, has returned to training after winning an appeal against a decision to revoke his visa into Australia. Djokovic had arrived in Australia last week Wednesday for the Australian Open after receiving a medical exemption to allow him to participate in the event. But his entry into the country was not as smooth as he wanted as he was held up in detention as his visa was revoked.

On Monday, however, a court in Australia overturned the visa cancellation and ordered Djokovic’s release.

Djokovic’s detention generated a lot of buzz for many reasons. There was the political and diplomatic side to it due to the nature of the situation. The issue also revealed certain things that were not known before. For example, during the course of the case, Djokovic’s lawyers revealed that he tested positive for COVID-19 in December 2021. In fact, it was because of his testing positive that he was able to get the medical exemption. News of Djokovic testing positive in December 2021 was virtually unknown until last week. The Serbian had failed to make it public or even disclose it in any manner. This is different from when he tested positive for COVID-19 back in 2020.

Another thing that came to light is his vaccination status. In a transcript of an interview made available on Monday, Djokovic revealed to the border authorities that he was not vaccinated. That is certainly not shocking. But it feels different now that he has revealed it himself.

For Djokovic, this past week presented issues that he may never have envisioned. But he is back to training now and has said he would put the whole episode behind him as he said on his social media page: “Despite all that has happened, I want to stay and try to compete in the Australian Open. I remain focused on that. I flew here to play at one of the most important events we have in front of the amazing fans.”

But his problems may not seem to be over yet as the Australian Immigration Minister would have to decide whether to use the powers of his office to cancel Djokovic’s visa for a second time.

Written by: Leon Osamor