Australia’s opportunist humiliation of Novak Djokovic is nothing to celebrate, writes Julian Linden

Craig Tiley has been doing his best to duck and weave out of the Novak Djokovic saga blowtorch. But he now needs to come clean on everything he knew and the role he played.

Djokovic is expected to arrive in Melbourne later tonight

Heads should roll at the very top of Tennis Australia after the shameful mishandling of Novak Djokovic’s on again, off again participation in the Australian Open.

No matter what you think of Djokovic and his alienating views on vaccination, Australia’s handwashing humiliation of the world number one is a national disgrace.

For a sports mad country that talks a good game about fair play but rarely delivers, this is a new low.

Every Australian knows how pathetically our state and federal governments have botched the whole Covid pandemic, allowing petty politics to rule over common sense.

Australian families are right to be furious when they see pampered multi-millionaires getting treated differently to everyone else because they have borne the cost of the government’s incompetence.

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Djokovic is expected to arrive in Melbourne later tonight

But Djokovic does not deserve to be blamed for the entire fiasco and should never have flown all the way to Melbourne only to be denied a visa by grandstanding authorities who should have made their call earlier.

Forget all the spin you’re hearing about how the same rules apply to everyone: just ask any Australian who was prevented from travelling to see their dying family members during last year’s lockdown while Hollywood movie stars came and went as they liked.

One of the finest athletes the world has ever seen, Djokovic has always been a polarising figure in Australia, where many of his finest achievements have taken place.

Supremely talented and determined, his critics have accused him of being arrogant and entitled and tone deaf to the sufferings of everyone else during the pandemic.

But even if all that was true, there is still no justification for the cynical way he has been portrayed as the fall guy for everyone else’s mistakes.

The handling of the Djokovic situation was embarrassing. Picture: Getty Images

The whole world has now seen for themselves just how ugly things have become in the nanny state of Australia after the opportunist manner in which authorities backflipped when the heat was turned up.

The angry mob who didn’t want him to come to Australia in the first place will be feeling triumphant after Djokovic was refused a visa on arrival, even though he poses no more of a risk to them than their own neighbours.

That genie is already out of the bottle with case numbers exploding around the country but it’s the optics that conspired against the Serbian and the image of him sheepishly returning home without making it on court will do more damage to Australia’s international reputation than his.

Having got their way, the anti-Djokovic brigade now needs to redirect their anger elsewhere because the real culprits are closer to home.

Novak Djokovic and Craig Tiley during last year’s Australian Open ceremony. Picture: Getty Images

The world number one may have misread the mood in the room but he was only allowed to because self-serving politicians and administrators should have had the guts to make an early call and stick by it rather than wet the bed the moment everyone complained.

And it’s not just the state and federal governments that need to be put under the blowtorch.

Craig Tiley, the chief executive of Tennis Australia, needs to come clean about everything he knew and the role he played.

Tiley’s done more ducking and weaving in the past month than the English Ashes team when facing up to Pat Cummins and the new ball but his time is up.

Astonishingly, he even had the gall to suggest Djokovic should ‘please explain’ everything that transpired once he got to Australia but those comments are now backfiring on him.

Everyone knows where the buck stops and as the boss of Tennis Australia, it’s time for Tiley to take the stand and explain what really happened or fall on his sword.