The case of Novak Djokovic is again making noise in Australia. Last January, the Serbian went to Melbourne before being finally stuck at his entrance and then excluded from the country. Will he be able to get a visa this year and play? Good question. The non-vaccinated can now enter the country but the imbroglio around his real/false exemption of vaccine cost him three years of ban on entering the Australian territory. The Serbian hopes that his sanction will be lifted. But this is not to everyone’s taste, including Karen Andrew, former Minister of Home Affairs. “It would be a slap in the face for those people in Australia who have done the right thing, if suddenly Novak Djokovic was allowed to enter the country,” he said.
In an interview for the Serbian media sportal.rs, Nole expressed his desire to play in Melbourne and confided that he had rather positive information, although without an official authorization. “Australia… We have good indications, but not everything is official. Through my lawyers in Australia, we are communicating, that is, they are actually communicating with the authorities and government organizations that are responsible for my case. I am hoping for an answer, whatever it may be. Of course, I hope for something positive. I hope that I will receive an answer in the next few weeks, which will allow me to prepare well for the beginning of the season (…) I want to go, even if the situation is completely different for this possible departure compared to what happened this year. However, I’ve gotten over everything that happened and I really want to play tennis. It’s what I do best. Australia has always been the country where I have played my best tennis and it shows in the results, so I am always very motivated to go there. This time I am even more motivated and I hope the response will be positive,” he said.
Djoko then continued. “There are also those people who think that maybe I shouldn’t go for some reason. I respect that everyone has a different way of thinking about my situation and the circumstances I have been and am in. After all, I have never offended anyone or tried to be disrespectful in any way. I have always tried to show that it is important that everyone has the right and freedom of choice. For the choices I made, I knew there would be certain consequences like not going to America. And that was it. For Australia, it was a different case, because I had a permit, but finally what happened happened. We know the epilogue. This time, I’m waiting for that permit again. It’s a good thing that they have now opened the borders for non-vaccinated people to Australia. I have this ban to enter the country, but I hope it will be lifted. Again, it is not in my hands. I’m hoping the Australian government people will give a positive response, that’s all.”