Novak Djokovic Australian Open visa fallout to impact other sports, major events
Australians are supposed to be in for a feast of international sport in coming years. But there are fears the Novak Djokovic visa saga will cause others to consider whether competing here is worth the risk.
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Once the ticker tape is cleaned up and a player other than Novak kisses the Norman Brookes Trophy for the first time since 2018, Rod Laver Arena will be transformed into party central.
Global rock, rap and popstars including KISS, Billie Eilish, Snoop Dogg, Dua Lipa, The Killers, The Backstreet Boys, My Chemical Romance Keith Urban and Jack Riewoldt’s mates The Killers all have bookings at the 15-000 seat stadium to light up Victorian lives.
Next door, Virat Kohli will take to the MCG for the famous ground’s first match of the Twenty20 World Cup while Sam Kerr and Megan Rapinoe headline next year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup.
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Lewis Hamilton is due to race around Albert Park in April at the Australian Grand Prix and later this year Team USA dazzlers Diana Taurasi, Skylar Diggins-Smith, Brittney Griner and Sue Bird will be shooting hoops at the FIBA Basketball World Cup.
Looking further ahead, Brisbane has won the 2032 Olympics while Victoria wants the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
But how many of the rich and famous second-guess their visits down under? The question has been on the lips of tennis insiders all week.
“If we’ve got a government prepared to use the discretionary power of the immigration minister in arbitrary way, who’s going to want to come to Australia?” one former Tennis Australia board member told News Corp.
“We’re trying to attract talent down here, whether it’s to race in the F1 or play in various events or sing at concerts, and the Federal Government is prepared to issue them a visa and then when they get here detain them and deport them.
“That’s just crazy stuff. It’s disgraceful. Why would you jump on a plane – 20 hours at least to get here – if you weren’t told that you could get in?
“They’ve all got to be looking at this and saying, ‘Bloody hell, we could get to Australia, be put in detention and deported just because of views that we are perceived to hold’.”
Djokovic has been the posterboy of the international storm because, well, he is Novak Djokovic. But he is far from alone.
Czech star Renata Voracova was also detained by Australian Border Force officials while surfing king and 11-time world champion Kelly Slater has been told don’t bother coming to our beaches.
“My window is shut tight, I can’t open it 5cm. There are guards everywhere, even under the window, which is quite funny,” Voracova told Czech media while locked up in detention.
“Maybe they thought I would jump and run away. They bring me food and there’s a guard in the corridor. You have to report, everything is rationed. I feel a bit like in prison.
“The federal officials let me in immediately. I was held at the Victoria state checkpoint as they sent my papers somewhere, but then they confirmed I was free to enter without problems.
“I don’t understand why they would come to me after a week and say, look, the rules that applied do not apply anymore.”
Frenchwoman Alize Cornet will celebrate her 32nd birthday on Saturday with a Round 3 match against Tamara Zidansek.
Melbourne used to be one of Cornet’s favourite cities in the world.
“The best birthday I had here was my 30th birthday,” she told News Corp.
“I celebrated so hard – I got a little drunk I have to say, which never happens to me. We went to a karaoke bar on Exhibition St and it was so much fun.”
But Cornet was close to tears when she gripped her passport on December 29 after enduring a miserable time last summer, particularly in hotel quarantine.
“Actually, yes (I thought about not coming),” she said.
“I have to say that when I had to leave I was scared, I was really scared. I had such a bad experience last year that I feared it would be almost the same and I didn’t feel like experiencing the same thing twice.
“I was actually almost crying. I was like, ‘I’m not sure I want to go’ and then I just jumped on the plane and hoped for the best.”
The vaccination debate is causing domestic problems, too.
AFL star Liam Jones (Carlton) chose retirement over the jab while Jack Darling’s (West Coast) career is in doubt, along with dual premiership NRL forward Nelson Asofa-Solomona (Melbourne Storm).
But it is the precedent set by the Djokovic court case that alarmed legal eagles.
“Our concern is the Federal Government’s view that it did not have to prove that Mr Djokovic would foster views about vaccination that are contrary to the government – but simply that he may foster those sentiments,” Greg Barns, SC, from the Australian Lawyers’ Alliance said.
“This is a very low bar for excluding a person from Australia, particularly in circumstances where the power to review or appeal the decision is so limited.
“Using the criteria of a possible risk to public order as a reason to refuse a person entry into the country is troubling in a society supposedly committed to freedom of speech and freedom of thought.
“The Federal Government’s attitude could see other high-profile visitors to Australia refused entry in an attempt to suppress alternate views.
“If, for example, a high-profile visitor to Australia expressed negative views about the Australia and USA alliance, would the Government ban this person because this view may encourage people to protest at Pine Gap?”
One political observer dubbed it “great politics” by Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Immigration Minister Alex Hawke.
“The Feds don’t miss a trick,” he said.
Why?
Well, the raging Djokovic debate dominated a news cycle that had been spinning on the length delays for PCR results and a shortage of grocery supplies and the costly Rapid-Antigen tests.
Djokovic’s eviction notice might have been popular at the moment. But will it be popular long-term?
What if slowly but surely more and more of the world’s best snub the so-called ‘Happy Slam’?
It’s unlikely. But some in the sport fear that could revert the showpiece tournament to the bad old days of the pre-Open era, where it was mostly a domestic event.
“There are five events on the tennis calendar that are overweight in terms of rankings, and they are the four Grand Slams and the Masters,” a tennis expert said.
“That designation by the ATP is not a certainty, so if they believe that they can’t get world-class players into the Australian Open because of the arbitrariness of the government then it puts at risk that designation.
“If we end up being an outlier then the ATP will have to look at this as an issue.”
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Originally published as Novak Djokovic Australian Open visa fallout to impact other sports, major events
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