The 2022 season started off with immense controversy during the Australian Open. Before the tournament began, Novak Djokovic was asked to leave the country because of the vaccination mandate. Since no unvaccinated citizen was allowed in the country, an exception was not made for him. Due to the situation, the Australian tennis committee was under fire. Now, the president of the organization has spoken about the situation.
In addition to the Australian Open, Djokovic also ended up missing all tournaments held in the US. A similar outrage followed when many were anticipating watching the Serbinator play. Allowed now in Australia, the organizers are discussing the matter.
Australian tennis chief on the Djokovic fiasco
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News outlets everywhere were on fire as they had to pump out all the news regarding the Australian Open debacle. The Serbinator was disallowed from entering the country because he was unvaccinated. The issue popped up because he had already arrived in the country and received no such notifications before he reached.
After he was asked to go back, people worldwide lambasted the Australian Tennis Association and the tennis decision-makers of the country. The final blame eventually landed on the chief of Australian tennis, Craig Tiley, who is clearing the air on the matter now. In the Rock N Roll Tennis podcast, he talked about the situation that led to Djokovic being deported.
“At that point, I felt that Novak because, you know, he was someone who did what he thought was the right thing to do, based on the paperwork that he had in front of him and ended up coming to the country then ended up losing his challenge and, or when he was challenged actually and then being removed by one of the ministers because of the right that minister had at the time. So once Novak left, and the event started, of course, I got the blame.”
Although he was not allowed in the country, Djokovic achieved his redemption after he won both tournaments. But before he could play in these countries again, he was not happy with the name given to him by the media.
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The Djoker on being the villain
After being labeled a villain for choosing to not get vaccinated, the Serbian star did not budge. The 24-time Grand Slam champion said that he did not like being referred to as someone who is against vaccines. Rather, he believes there should be freedom for people to choose to get vaccinated. Therefore, he heavily disliked the media frenzy and stayed true to his beliefs till the end.
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His sacrifices proved to be fruitful as he returned to all tournaments in which he was banned and won most of them. Now, he will only look forward to winning more and leaving behind his villainous image.