Australia Gets Scared of Novak Djokovic as His 2023 Visa Exemption Saga Already Has Unhealthy Repercussions

Novak Djokovic, the Serbian tennis legend, is one of the most popular athletes of this generation. He has a huge fan base. In fact, people who don’t even follow tennis know who he is. Therefore, one can say that matters related to him have the potential to cause imbalance or spark debates.

Something of the same sort happened at the start of this season. At first, his decision to stay unvaccinated created a ruckus, and then his deportation from Australia ignited a fire. The fire had a lasting effect. It instilled fear in the crowd and brought a major decline in the number of tourists visiting the country.

People are scared of being treated like Novak Djokovic

In a recent interview, the Adelaide Airport’s MD opened up about the aftereffects of Djokovic’s detention, deportation, and ban. Brenton Cox believes that it is a genuine fear for potential visitors to “feel trapped”. They worry that they might suffer the same treatment as the tennis star.

“What we have seen is that it’s the Aussies who are getting out and seeing the world. But people aren’t coming here,” Cox confessed. Djokovic, believing he had a medical exemption, traveled to the nation to defend his title on the hard courts of the Australian Open. 

However, upon landing the 21 times Grand Slam champion was detained in the immigration center. Following that, a long legal battle took place and he, with a three-year ban for breaching policies, was sent back. 

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Though the new government, captained by Prime Minister Anthony Norman Albanese, a big tennis enthusiast, had decided to lift the ban. The immigration department, a few days back, officially gave a pass to the nine-time champion to travel for the 2023 Australian Open.

Djokovic’s triumph at the ATP Finals 

Surrounded by the debate about if it was fair of him to take advantage of the Grand Slam that had no ranking points to offer this year, Djokovic stepped onto the courts of the Nitto ATP Finals. The 21-time Grand Slam champion proved himself worthy and took down almost every opponent of his in the straight set except Daniil Medvedev.

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The Russian, who slipped the 2021 US Open trophy out of his hands and broke his dream of achieving a calendar Grand Slam, dragged the match to a 3-6, 7- 6 (5) 6 (2)- 7 score. Though after winning against him, the Serb took easy wins over his semifinals and finals opponents.