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World reacts to Australia’s Novak Djokovic visa decision

Australian Immigration Minister Alex Hawke has made a call on Novak Djokovic’s visa situation, sparking a huge reaction around the globe.

Alex Blair and Mathew Murphy
4 min read
January 15, 2022 - 8:26AM
Novak Djokovic’s visa cancelled by the Federal Government

The decision to send Novak Djokovic home has sparked a huge reaction from people across the globe following the hotly anticipated announcement on Friday afternoon.

Immigration Minister Alex Hawke made the decision just before 6pm AEDT yesterday, cancelling the nine-time Australian Open champion’s visa “on health and good order grounds”.

He claimed it was “in the public interest to do so”.

At a late-night hearing in the Federal Circuit Court, Djokovic sought and obtained an injunction preventing the government from deporting him until his appeal is resolved.

The tennis player agreed to meet with immigration officials at 8am AEDT on Saturday. After that interview he will formally be taken into custody, though he’ll be allowed to visit his legal team’s offices to consult with them.

A final hearing to resolve the case is expected to take place on Sunday.

The matter has already been transferred from the Federal Circuit Court to the Federal Court of Australia, which will hold a preliminary hearing at 10:15am this morning.

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Novak Djokovic of Serbia. (Photo by William WEST / AFP)
Novak Djokovic of Serbia. (Photo by William WEST / AFP)

As expected, social media exploded in reaction to the decision

Everyone from newsreaders, politicians, tennis commentators and local barflies have weighed in on what has become a major international story over the past week.

Veteran tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg said the saga may not be over yet, with Djokovic still appealing. Djokovic also faces a potential three-year ban from re-entering the country, but has not yet been removed from the 2022 tournament draw.

“We wait to see if, when, and how Djokovic might appeal this decision. We also await clarity on if Australia would seek to enforce the three-year ban from re-entering the country that can accompany such a deportation order. Djokovic has not yet been removed from #AusOpen draw,” he tweeted.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison briefly commented on the decision but refrained from adding more “due to the expected ongoing legal proceedings”.

“Australians have made many sacrifices during this pandemic, and they rightly expect the result of those sacrifices to be protected,” he said Friday evening.

“This is what the Minister is doing in taking this action today. Our strong border protection policies have kept Australians safe, prior to Covid and now during the pandemic.”

Tweets kept rolling in from around the globe as the world woke to the news.

Opinions on Djokovic’s visa cancellation varied wildly, from people believing his attempt to enter Australia posed a genuine health risk to a nation with hundreds of thousands of active cases, to others who believed his cancellation was an indictment of justice and set a dangerous precedent for travellers entry to the country based on a personal medical decision.

Once again, former UK politician Nigel Farage weighed in, strongly criticising the government’s move and labelling Australia a “banana republic”.

“Australia really is a banana republic. Djokovic deported on the grounds of public health, as if the unvaccinated are lepers. This is the exercise of arbitrary power overruling a court judgment. Australia has become a nasty, authoritarian state,” he tweeted.

Others, like New York Times reporter Gabe Hudson, believed Djokovic “literally turned himself into a bioweapon and arrived like some conqueror who doesn’t give sh*t abt (sic) their laws or ppl (sic)”.

Over in the tennis world, UK great Andy Murray said: “I am not going to sit here and start kicking Novak while he is down. I said it the other day, it is not a good situation for anyone.”

In Australian media, host of The Project Lisa Wilkinson cut straight to the chase moments after the decision was made, discussing the situation with Aussie tennis legend Rennae Stubbs.

“6pm Friday night, dropping a story, is a classic political move if you want to kill a story, but I don’t think it will be killed. How do you think Novak will feel right now?” Wilkinson asked.

“I think sad, probably a little bit angry. A bit bemused. Unsure. You name it. I’m not in his head but I suspect, I have a feeling he will try and fight this at some point,” Stubbs replied.

‘Error of judgment’: Novak’s big admission

On Wednesday, Djokovic spelled out exactly what he did on the days before and after his positive Covid result last month.

In an Instagram statement, Djokovic said he attended a basketball game in Belgrade on December 14, after which a number of people tested positive to Covid.

He said he took a rapid antigen test on December 16, despite having no symptoms, which came back negative, and then out of “an abundance of caution” also took a PCR test on the same day.

“The next day (December 17) I attended a tennis event in Belgrade to present awards to children and took a rapid antigen test before going to the event, and it was negative,” Djokovic wrote.

This is the event at which Djokovic was pictured maskless with a group of children.

”I was asymptomatic and felt good, and I had not received the notification of a positive PCR test result until after that event,” he continued.

Djokovic also admitted on social media to going through with an interview and photo shoot on December 18, despite knowing he was Covid-19 positive. He didn’t tell anyone at L’Equipe he had contracted the virus, calling it an “error of judgment” that saw him slammed on social media.

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Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/sport/tennis/world-reacts-to-australias-novak-djokovic-visa-decision/news-story/0179ce497992a6c15b5a889c9e923dc4