© Danielle Parhizkaran-USA TODAY Sports
Tennis: US Open
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Tennis star Novak Djokovic won a court battle Monday to stay in Australia to contest the Australian Open despite not being vaccinated against COVID-19, but the drama might not be finished, with the government threatening to cancel his visa a second time and deport him.
Federal Circuit Court Judge Anthony Kelly reinstated Djokovic’s visa, which was revoked after his arrival last week because officials decided he didn’t meet the criteria for an exemption to an entry requirement that all non-citizens be fully vaccinated.
The judge ruled the No. 1 player had not been given enough time to speak to his lawyers before that decision was made and ordered the government to release him within 30 minutes from a Melbourne quarantine hotel where he has spent the last four nights.
But government lawyer Christopher Tran told the judge that the immigration minister “will consider whether to exercise a personal power of cancellation.”
That would mean that the nine-time Australian Open winner and defending champion could again face deportation and could miss the tournament, which starts on Jan. 17. It could also bar him from the country for three years.
The office of Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews confirmed that Novak Djokovic has not been arrested.
Kelly said the threat of a further visa cancellation meant the “stakes have now risen rather than receded.”
“If this man is to be summarily removed upon a personal exercise of cancellation power, he cannot return to this country for three years, am I right about that?” Kelly asked lawyers for Home Affairs Minister Andrews, under whose authority Djokovic’s visa was earlier canceled.
The government canceled 34-year-old Djokovic’s visa shortly after he arrived in Melbourne late Wednesday to play in the Australian Open.
There was a public backlash at news that Djokovic, who has previously declined to reveal his vaccination status, would compete in Melbourne because Australians who aren’t vaccinated, or are inoculated with vaccines that aren’t recognized by Australian medical authorities, face tough travel and quarantine restrictions. Court documents say he is unvaccinated.
Djokovic has been under guard in hotel quarantine since Thursday, when his visa was canceled.
He appealed the cancellation at the virtual court hearing Monday amid a growing public debate over the positive coronavirus test that his lawyers used as grounds in applying for a medical exemption to Australia’s strict vaccination rules.
Djokovic argued he did not need proof of vaccination because he had evidence that he had been infected with the coronavirus last month.
Australian medical authorities have ruled that a temporary exemption for the vaccination rule can be provided to people who have been infected with COVID-19 within six months.
Andrews’ lawyers eventually conceded that the authorities’ decision to proceed with interviewing Djokovic in the early hours of Thursday and cancel his visa before he could contact Tennis Australia or his lawyers was unreasonable in the circumstances.
The decision to cancel his visa was made just over an hour later.
Djokovic is a nine-time Australian Open champion. He is the defending champion and has won the last three titles at Melbourne Park.
Djokovic has 20 Grand Slam singles titles, a men’s record he shares with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
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