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Freshly banned from participating in the US Open, the 2022 season of Novak Djokovic was full of controversy. A season where although deprived of two Grand Slams, the Serbian still managed to win one, in this case Wimbledon. As for his ban on participating in the Australian Open, the imbroglio surrounding his real/false vaccine exemption has cost him three years of ban on entering Australia. For the moment, the vaccine is no longer mandatory to cross the Australian border, so the Serbian hopes that his sanction will be lifted. A lifting that he could hope since the change of government could play in his favor. However, his arrival is still unpopular with Australians and therefore with some members of the government.
This is what TennisMajors reveals in its columns. When Craig Tiley reaffirmed publicly that he hoped to see all the best players playing in the Australian Open, some political voices were against it. In any case Karen Andrew, former Minister of Home Affairs could not let it go: “It would be a slap in the face to those people in Australia who have done the right thing, have been vaccinated, have done everything they need to do, if all of a sudden Novak Djokovic was allowed to come into the country, just because he is a top tennis player with several million dollars. So if immigration now chooses to make a special announcement for Novak Djokovic, the obvious question is what are you going to do with someone else in similar circumstances?” she explained in an interview with ABC media. Between that and Djokovic’s unpopularity there since the events of 2021, not sure the government will take the risk of lifting the ban.
What “Nole” is hoping for, however, is a change of Prime Minister in Australia. Indeed, Anthony Albanese has undertaken a broad relaxation of sanitary measures and non-vaccinated people can enter the country. This raises the problem of his ban on entry into the country, which no longer concerns the potential lifting of sanitary restrictions but his person, on the judicial level. Here again, the Australian Prime Minister could lift this possible sanction against the Serbian player. Tennis fan, Anthony Albanese would see impossible the holding of a Grand Slam tournament without the greatest players of the planet. The Prime Minister of the Australian Labor Party could lift any sanction against Novak because of his passion for tennis, but also certainly by thinking about the economic loss that a new absence of the greatest player in history in Melbourne (9 titles) would represent. But will he take the risk?
