BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Although Novak Djokovic nonetheless faces the prospect of deportation from Australia, his father is bolstering public opinion at house in Serbia that the case “is closed.”
“The entire state of affairs relating to Novak Djokovic is closed by the decision of the Australian courtroom,” Srdjan Djokovic informed Bosnian Serb TV station RTRS on Tuesday.
Serbs have rallied round their sports activities idol, who hopes to defend his title on the Australian Open this month — if he can handle to remain within the nation.
The highest-ranked Djokovic educated at Melbourne Park, the place the match is held, inside hours of successful a authorized battle that allowed him to remain for now. However he faces the opportunity of deportation as a result of he’s not vaccinated towards COVID-19.
That hasn’t stopped Srdjan Djokovic from making his case.
“An Australian courtroom and an impartial choose, after seven hours of inspecting all of the info, decided that there are not any ambiguities and that Novak is free to enter Australia and do his job,” he stated.
At subject is whether or not the nine-time Australian Open champion has a legitimate exemption to guidelines requiring vaccination to enter Australia since he lately recovered from COVID-19. A choose dominated Monday he may keep, however the immigration minister may nonetheless ship him house.
The newest query within the Djokovic saga is over an immigration type on which he stated he had not traveled within the 14 days earlier than his flight to Australia.
But he was filmed enjoying tennis on the street in entrance of his condominium within the Serbian capital, Belgrade, on Dec. 25, and later coaching in Spain — all throughout the 14-day window.
Questions additionally stay about Djokovic’s current optimistic coronavirus take a look at. He had a PCR take a look at on Dec. 16 and acquired his optimistic end result that evening.
Pictures and movies since then have proven a maskless Djokovic attending public occasions, together with a junior tennis prize ceremony in Belgrade after his optimistic take a look at. Serbia’s COVID-19 protocols ought to have required him to isolate for 11 days.
It stays unclear if Serbia’s authorities will punish Djokovic for the obvious breach of obligatory self-isolation guidelines. The Balkan nation faces its largest coronavirus surge because the begin of the pandemic.
The drama has polarized opinions and elicited sturdy assist for the 20-time Grand Slam winner in his native Serbia.
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