Tennis
- Thread starter Gotham Gator
- Start date
No sympathy from me. If he was vaxed he'd be playing tennis for millions of dollars now. Oh well. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Is anyone following the drama surrounding Novak Djokovic and the Australian Open?
This is the tournament where a victory will give him his 21st major title, setting a record and breaking his deadlock with Federer and Nadal. He has won the tournament 9 times.
A week or so ago, the tournament disclosed that Djokovic had been given entry to the tournament under a medical exemption from receiving a Covid-19 vaccine. This led to understandable outrage in Covid-averse Australia.
Later, it was clarified that the application had been made to a board run by the state of Victoria, and that these applications are reviewed on an anonymous basis. It does not appear that this made any difference in public opinion.
Djokovic showed up in Melbourne today, got off his flight, and was promptly denied admission to the country. This played out over several hours on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1478847707640967168?s=20
https://twitter.com/AndrewLowth1/status/1478848741075472387?s=20
The stories are conflicting. One report says that his team applied for his visa in the wrong category - one that does not allow vaccine exemptions. Another report says that the agency responsible for immigration has a different process for exemptions than the state agency governing the tournament, and they denied his medical exemption. It seems likely that domestic politics are playing a role. It also seems likely that someone on Djokovic's team screwed up big time.
This is the tournament where a victory will give him his 21st major title, setting a record and breaking his deadlock with Federer and Nadal. He has won the tournament 9 times.
A week or so ago, the tournament disclosed that Djokovic had been given entry to the tournament under a medical exemption from receiving a Covid-19 vaccine. This led to understandable outrage in Covid-averse Australia.
Later, it was clarified that the application had been made to a board run by the state of Victoria, and that these applications are reviewed on an anonymous basis. It does not appear that this made any difference in public opinion.
Djokovic showed up in Melbourne today, got off his flight, and was promptly denied admission to the country. This played out over several hours on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1478847707640967168?s=20
https://twitter.com/AndrewLowth1/status/1478848741075472387?s=20
The stories are conflicting. One report says that his team applied for his visa in the wrong category - one that does not allow vaccine exemptions. Another report says that the agency responsible for immigration has a different process for exemptions than the state agency governing the tournament, and they denied his medical exemption. It seems likely that domestic politics are playing a role. It also seems likely that someone on Djokovic's team screwed up big time.
Yes, that's why I created it.*
It just took me a while to get the post completed.
Really fucking unbelievable on all sides. He needs to get vaccinated. Australia needs to get its act together.
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* - Plus, I love following tennis.
It's a an absolute crapshow and embarrassment from all parties involved.
He can't be unvaccinated and expect preferential treatment.
The Australian government shouldn't have even alluded that he may get in on an exemption and allow him to even board a plane.
All parties handled very poorly (and this is coming from a Serbian who was raised in Australia....)
He can't be unvaccinated and expect preferential treatment.
The Australian government shouldn't have even alluded that he may get in on an exemption and allow him to even board a plane.
All parties handled very poorly (and this is coming from a Serbian who was raised in Australia....)
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