As I’m writing this on Wednesday morning, Novak Djokovic is just hours away from touching down in Australia. He left Spain (where he was training & holidaying) on Tuesday, announcing that he was coming to play the Australian Open now that he had gotten a Covid vaccine medical exemption. Meaning, Novak still isn’t vaccinated and he’s about to enter a country which has just survived one of the strictest Covid lockdowns in the world, a country in which foreign visitors (like Djoker) must adhere to the strict vaccine mandate. The Australian Open/Tennis Australia has spent the past 24 hours furiously trying to do damage control on their own bone-headed decision making. Aussies aren’t buying any of Tennis Australia’s bullsh-t, nor are they happy with Djokovic. The whole situation has gotten incredibly spicy.
Novak Djokovic needs to prove that he has a genuine medical exemption from COVID-19 vaccination when he lands in Australia or he will be “on the next plane home”, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Wednesday. The world No. 1 announced on Tuesday he received an exemption to play in the Grand Slam tournament in Melbourne and said he was heading to Australia.
Tennis Australia and the Victorian state government said Djokovic was one of a “handful” of successful applicants among 26 people who sought exemptions from being vaccinated, but had not received any special treatment in the anonymous application process.
“We await his presentation and what evidence he provides us to support that,” Morrison told a media conference after chairing a meeting of state leaders about dealing with record levels of COVID infections in the country. “If that evidence is insufficient, then he won’t be treated any different to anyone else and he’ll be on the next plane home. There should be no special rules for Novak Djokovic at all. None whatsoever.”
The federal government, which has responsibility for international borders and visas, was not part of the exemption process. Morrison said there had been numerous exemptions granted to people who had been able to support their application. “So the circumstances are not unique, the issue is whether he has sufficient evidence to support that he would qualify for that exception,” he said.
The decision to grant Djokovic an exemption to the tournament sparked sharp criticism in Australia, where more than 90% of people over 16 have had two vaccine doses against COVID-19. “I think lots of people in the Victorian community will find this to be a disappointing outcome,” acting Victorian Sports Minister Jaala Pulford told a media conference earlier on Wednesday after news of Djokovic’s exemption. “But the process is the process; nobody has had special treatment. The process is incredibly robust.”
Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley said the two-stage application process was confidential and run by independent experts. All applications were assessed to ensure any exemptions met conditions set out by the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI). Tiley said those reasons included previous adverse response to vaccines, recent major surgery or myocarditis or certified evidence of a COVID infection in the previous six months.
“…Those reasons included previous adverse response to vaccines, recent major surgery or myocarditis or certified evidence of a COVID infection in the previous six months…” That’s one the (many) things that’s bugging me about this – as someone who follows tennis, Djokovic has only admitted to having Covid once, in April/May 2020. He was still playing throughout 2021 and he apparently never got it a second time, despite traveling the world unvaccinated? And he hasn’t disclosed if he’s had surgery recently, nor has he given any evidence that he has adverse reactions to vaccines. This is completely asinine. And I’m incredibly curious to see if everything comes to a head as soon as Novak touches down in Oz. Also: as other commentators pointed out, other tournaments will have vaccine mandates this year too! Is Novak going to get exemptions all f–king year?
Updates: Apparently, Novak landed in Oz just moments ago and there’s some kind of bureaucratic mess happening right now over his visa. Reporters on the ground are also hearing that Novak got the exemption because he recently had Covid. When??? That means he’s had it twice and still won’t get vaxxed??
Australia is waking up angry about the Djokovic exemption news. pic.twitter.com/ArhBmXM9VS
— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) January 4, 2022
Novak Djokovic Aussie Open update:
Australian PM Scott Morrison says Djokovic needs to prove he has a genuine medical exemption from the COVID vaccine mandate when he enters the country or "he'll be on the next plane home." pic.twitter.com/8IfSjMeGXs
— The Recount (@therecount) January 5, 2022
Happy New Year! Wishing you all health, love & joy in every moment & may you feel love & respect towards all beings on this wonderful planet.
I’ve spent fantastic quality time with loved ones over break & today I’m heading Down Under with an exemption permission. Let’s go 2022! pic.twitter.com/e688iSO2d4
— Novak Djokovic (@DjokerNole) January 4, 2022
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
Total BS kick him out!
x1000!
Sounds like he just got booted ~6:30 Eastern
He’s out! LOL.
Apparently he arrived, Borderforce took him to a room for ten hours and debated back and forth about his paperwork. He rang the Serbian President, who has had a major public meltdown about this; but in the end his paperwork proving his exemption was deemed insufficient and he was sent back.
The memes are glorious. The schadenfreude is strong!
TBH, it’s a bit shit. They shouldn’t have told him he could come if he couldn’t. Nevertheless, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
My guess is his paperwork was dodgy AF (because he doesn’t have a proper right to an exemption) the AO and Victorian State government pushed him through despite their claims to two independent boards approving it without knowing who he was, the backlash from the public was swift and extremely angry, and the Feds, who are currently extremely unpopular going into an election, read the room and told borderforce to go over everything with a fine tooth comb. Of course it wasn’t up to snuff. Bye bye buddy.
Rafa must be laughing his arse off right now…
I’ve been living for it for 24 hours. I also heard that once your visa is rejected/revoked you won’t be able to enter the country for three years. French Open, the ball is in your court now. and yes, I know it’s not for another four months, but…
No-Vacc Djokovic. yet again proving it’s one rule for some and the rest of us suffer. I hope he gets kicked straight back home.
“may you feel love and respect to all beings”, because I’m not going to.
I believe it’s now spelt DjoCovid
(not my gag, I saw it on here last year)
No-vax JokeCovid
Don’t remember where I read it first, but I’m loving:
“Thou shalt not COVID thy neighbour’s Life”
Now I’m enjoying DjoCovid and No-Vax JokeCovid so thank you!
I don’t think so. I can guarantee you the exemption is legit because he has had COVID recently. Which is a stupid rule, but he’s following the rules.
The worst part is he will use this as justification to do whatever he wants in the future. And as proof that he was right not to get vaccinated as he got over Covid twice. And that pro-science pro-vaccine people are horrible because they accused him unjustly.
And if he does get kicked out, he will claim discrimination because his exemption was legitimate but the government is bowing to big pharma and kicking him out despite him following the rules.
It sucks because what he is doing is awful, but he has a plan here, and unfortunately the Australia govt is playing into his hand. The 6month infection rule is asinine.
How is the recent covid affection assinine? It’s the same rule in France. Getting infected by the virus has the same effect as a vaccination. It is actually the point of a vaccin to create anti bodies way a contamination would but without the danger of getting sick.
Because immunity doesn’t last and he doesn’t get any of the benefits of vaccination such as less likely to catch and transmit.
I wouldn’t put it past this sorry m—ker to lie about having had covid recently.
It’s chaos. An MP was on the Aussie news earlier saying Djokovic may have a medical exemption from the tournament but that entry visas were federal and he didn’t have that. We’ll see soon when he lands.
On behalf of all Victorians who did the right thing for longer than just about anywhere to buy our whole country time, f*** Novax to hell and back.
Especially while we can’t even get tested ourselves because PCR testing is overwhelmed and our PM screwed up on rapid tests as badly as he did on vaccines, then sold them all to his donors to price gouge. Happy Election Year, Aussies!
Did you see The Age report and Jaala Pulford’s response to Fed Gov’t request? Basically, its all back in Scomo’s lap where it should be.
https://twitter.com/JaalaPulford/status/1478701525937573891
Just replied to your other comment, but I hadn’t seen this – oh what poetic justice it would be! This political circus has made the entire pandemic so much more stressful to endure. The gaslighting… God, the gaslighting.
@Red Dog the gaslighting today, my god. I had to turn the tv off before I threw something at it.
Actually the Victorian Government gave Joker the exemption and allowed him to enter the tournament, then when he arrived in Australia today, Border Force (Federal Gvt) said he didn’t have any proof to back up his exemption status and so he is being deported. Thank goodness for the Federal Government saving us from incompetent Jaala Pulford!
Same in Argentina. 10 months of strict lockdown which also tanked our economy. Government buys Sputnik vaccines and roll out goes so slow the health system is cracking under pressure anyway. Football opens before SCHOOLS and the Maradona funeral is a joke. Now we don’t have rapid tests and test Centers are at maximum capacity with 6 hour queues.
Governments should stop giving out special treatment to some while most of us have to comply.
Fellow Victorian here, and Tennis Australia was squirming yesterday trying to explain away their decision – by saying it wasn’t actually their decision because they had a medical board who decided these things confidentially. The spokesperson for TA was saying that even he didn’t know what the excemption was, because of privacy issues, but that it was 100% above board!! Ridiculous.
Cases are skyrocketing here – people can’t get rapid tests, my local testing centre closed at 9am yesterday morning because of long-queues, and there were hundreds of people queueing to get vaccines after the Christmas break. My issue with Djokovic is that he has been a complete arrogant arse about vaccines, so him getting an exemption is just a slap in the face for everyone in Victoria who has struggled so much.
@ Mariposa, and @ Cee, AUS has been a perfect model of how countries should have shut down and successfully vaccinated 90% of the population,, which I admire immensely. Though I have read many article with regards to those that were far from home not being able to return home for months, some close to 18/24, which was incredibly heartbreaking.
It’s not fair that so many people with positions of power were perfectly allowed into AUS common citizens were not. An estimate of 30k AUS natives, yet some Hollywood actors were allowed in.
Oh how much those with power, money and influence “suffer”. This jackass shouldn’t be allowed if it’s due to the fact that he has recently recovered from the coronavirus. Keep his virus spreading ass out of AUS and kick him out.
Yes happy election year! I can’t wait to vote out unaccountable and incompetent Andrews. Still enjoying a summer holiday while Victoria is in crisis and every other state premier is still working!
A rich white man got a pass. Where have I seen this before? 🤔
His sense of entitlement is staggering. Please, Australia, send his a$$ back home.
I think Australian customs is going to send his ass home. I don’t trust these lying ass anti-vaccine creeps for a moment. Did he get some doctor to claim he had an adverse reaction to a vaccine years ago? If he’d had that, he would have been talking it up to the media.
My dream is that he gets sent home and banned from returning to Australia for falsifying documents. I’m so over this BS and everyone else is too. These clowns are not only endangering every person they come in contact with, they are demanding to be declared morally superior for doing so.
I’d bet money he legit had Covid again and so the exemption is technically real, It’s a stupid rule!!
Let him come – it will be fun to watch him get booed out of every match
Even better – The Victorian government rejected a late-night request from the Aust Federal Govt to support Djokovic’s visa hours before he landed in Melbourne after it was discovered that Djokovic’s team had submitted the wrong type of visa.
The Vic govt pushed back and said its a Federal responsibility. The PM will end up with egg on his face of his own making (again)
Oh I hope so. Of course they tried to blame DA, and now Scotty wants to pretend he’ll be the one to send him home only AFTER everyone was outraged? Please. It was bad enough hearing Novax whining like an entitled prick last year. He ain’t welcome.
Exactly. I am looking forward to this blowing up in Scomo’s face. (I’m not a Vic but wish DA was my premier).
This is all the fault of the Victorian Government! They gave him the green light to travel in the first place. The Feds are deporting him. Thank goodness Scomo is our PM
I hope he will be out. What a dissgrace
I really hope Đoker does not prove that all you have to be is powerful enough.
Đole, go home.
He has a punchable face. Smug bastard. This is what happens when you have money and the means to get what you want.
Finger crossed he’s on the next flight back to whatever Neanderthal cave he crawled out of. If not, I’ve got my Aus Open tickets and my booing voice ready!
I hope they boot him out.
Honestly, at this point, it’s just wickedness. You don’t want to get vaccinated for whatever reason, but you don’t care that you’re putting others in danger! No care for the little children who can’t get the vaccine or the elderly whose immune systems are just not as strong as yours. No care for others with medical conditions that have rendered them immuno-compromised! Just YOU, YOU, YOU! And this guy is supposed to be some type of role model. I bet he’s a “Christian” too but somehow doesn’t “love his neighbor” enough to protect him/her!
at this point he probably has had it five times and enough antibodies for the exemption. I hope the fans boo him all the way to hell and back.
They won’t grant an exemption to a little kid from India to play in the Jr tournament, even though under-18’s aren’t getting vaccinated in India yet, but they’ll give one to this fool. Hate him.
There’s a Indian junior player that didn’t get a exemption. He couldn’t get the vaccine in his home country because they aren’t giving it to under 18s.
So you can miss me with this “he got no special treatment” BS. We all know he did and the tennis assoc in oz pushed for him to get a exemption.
Oh, wow, you & rawiya above noted this. It makes it all the more obvious that he got special treatment because of who he is. Hope there’s enough egg to splatter over everybody’s faces.
Ugh. This just makes me mad.
The Times are reporting that he hasn’t been granted entry due to a visa mix up. I do hope he gets turn away and is not let in. He is such a joke.
If Novaxx is allowed to play, I hope the entire stadium boos him every time he sets foot on court.
HE IS OUT!!!!!!! YAAAAASSSSSS!
lmao karma go him pretty quickly GOOD
WOOOOOHOOOOO!!!!
I just heard he is still in holding and not allowed to enter FOR NOW due to some Visa mix up but they’re trying to clear it up. The Australian Open won’t start for another 2 weeks so maybe he will fix VISA issues in time and play after all. Either way I hope they boo his ass out of the stadium and this will be a reminder for all following tournaments this year with vaccine mandates to not allow his ass to participate. He has always been an entitled prick…
I figured he was arriving so early bc he needed to quarantine. If that’s the case, they are going to need to fix it quickly.
This visa issue will only fuel his father’s theory that the AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT has something personal with Nole. Yes, I write it all in caps because it’s ridiculous. The delusions of grandeur that family has, good God.
The only sad part is that they’ll probably try and succeed in putting the focus on this issue and not their unvaccinated ass*s.
Go back home NovaX. Get the Jab like the rest of us if you want to travel.
He should definitely be deported, no question.
They’re doubling back on themselves. First they say it’s extremely hard to get an exemption & that only ‘a handful’ (five?) have been able to do that so far, and then they say he’s got to show evidence & then they’ll decide. Are they doing that with the rest of the handful, too? Why grant an exemption & request evidence later? What is so difficult about getting an exemption granted if you can do it without evidence? They made an exception for a bigshot tennis player & they got found out. Dummies.
He has whined incessantly for years. A lot of it about how the crowd don’t love him like they love Roger and Rafa. His trying to encourage the crowd to cheer him is pathetic. Spectators never liked Ivan Lendl and he didn’t give a stuff. I hope Djokovic gets the boot.
What was the final resolution over this? Was he able to enter Australia? And it looks like he got covid twice yet still refuses to be vaccinated? What a moron.
As of now it looks like Novaxx Djocovid stays winning the *Australian Closed*.
🎾🏆🎾
Fingers crossed.
Denied! F-U Novak.
He’s been detained because this team didn’t apply for the visa required IF you have a medical exemption. His Dad is going off about unfair treatment, that his phones been taken away etc but he’s behind treated EXACTLY the same as anyone who didn’t apply for the correct visa.
There was literally ONE supporter there in arrival too lol. I don’t think any Australian will be rioting in the streets about this Covidiot.
He had Covid in summer 2020 or 21 I think? And that’s not a reason for exemption. .
His visa has been cancelled and he’s being deported today. I can’t stop laughing.
It’s amazing isn’t it?! I have a raging justice boner lol.
Yup, NY Times is reporting he’s been refused entry and asked to leave.
*sad trombone sound*
Best news I’ve seen all year!
Buh bye Novax!!
Although it would have been fun to boo you the whole time =D
Rejected. 🎉
Thinking of you, Kaiser. I wouldn’t even know about this guy if it weren’t for this site but I am so happy right now that he’s not going to be able to use his privilege to get his unvaxxed butt into Australia!
Another rich dude who thinks because he’s good with balls, he’s above the law. I loved seeing the headline that he was *denied* take your privilege back home, dude.
I hope Rafael wins. Chef’s kiss to Australia. You did the right thing, mates.
He’s probably getting this all on video for a future documentary, crying up a storm about how persecuted he is so he can be on his way to martyrdom. His victim complex is something else. Fueled by his insane pops. He will give one interview after another crying about the “injustice” of it all. Sickening. Can’t wait for him to exit Australia.
His father is so Trumpian it’s terrifying
I am so ridiculously pleased that he was denied entry to Australia. I can only hope that the UK and US (NY) will be similarly stringent in executing their laws. He is absolutely allowed to be unvaccinated but should not be allowed to play in any significant tournaments. I hope it affects his bottom line.
As an Australian I can confirm our Federal Gvt declared Joker didn’t have the correct paperwork to prove he had a valid medical exemption so he is being deported. Joker is now challenging this in the courts.