Australian Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews threatened to use Border Patrol to deport tennis champion Novak Djokovic on Wednesday following outrage from Chinese coronavirus vaccine enthusiasts condemning the presumably unvaccinated Djokovic for receiving an exemption to the country’s mandate.
Djokovic is the reigning Australian Open champion and has won the tournament more than any other player in history. The Serbian is also currently the top-ranked tennis player in the world and holds more Grand Slam titles, with 20 championships to his name, than all but two other men: Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Djokovic has vocally opposed coronavirus vaccines and lockdown measures, notoriously attempting to host a tennis tournament in mid-2020 that abruptly ended when many people involved, including Djokovic himself, tested positive for Chinese coronavirus.
Australian federal officials have imposed a mandate for foreigners to either show proof of vaccination or that they fit into one of a small number of medical exemption categories that prevent them form being vaccinated to enter the country. Australians have endured some of the most authoritarian alleged anti-coronavirus measures in the world, including the use of camps to corral suspected coronavirus patients and military deployment to enforce lockdowns.
The rigid rules prompted speculation that Djokovic, who had maintained his vaccination status private for months, would skip the tournament to avoid the vaccine. The player’s father, Srdjan, called the vaccine mandate “blackmail” on Serbian television last year and asserted that his son would “probably not” play the tournament. Tournament officials, however, used Djokovic’s presence there to advertise the event even as regional and federal officials, including Prime Minister Scott Morrison, insisted Djokovic would have to abide by the vaccine mandate if he wanted to enter the country.
On Tuesday, Djokovic posted a message on his social media outlets announcing he would be heading to Australia.
“I’ve spent fantastic quality time with my loved ones over the break and today I’m heading Down Under with an exemption permission. Let’s go 2022 !!” Djokovic wrote. He did not specify if his exemption was medical, meaning doctors
Australia’s Home Affairs minister issued a statement following Djokovic’s revelation suggesting the federal government may deport him if he lands on Australian soil regardless of the exemption.
“Any individual seeking to enter Australia must comply with our strict border requirements,” the statement read. “If an arriving individual is not vaccinated, they must provide acceptable proof that they cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons to be able to access the same travel arrangement as fully vaccinated travellers.”
“Australian Border Force will continue to ensure that those who arrive at our border comply with our strict border requirements,” the statement warned.
As of Thursday morning Australia time, reports began surfacing that Australian officials are trying to block Djokovic from entering the country because his team filled out the wrong visa form.
“The 20-times grand-slam champion landed in Melbourne this afternoon … But Djokovic is unable to proceed through passport control after a member of his support team made a critical mistake in requesting a sub-class of visa that does not apply to those who have received medical exemptions from a [Chinese coronavirus] vaccine,” the U.K. Times reported.
Australia’s The Age added to the reports with an anonymous Australian government source commentary, claiming that the government believed “there were question marks about whether Djokovic had adequate documentation to prove the reason for his exemption.”
“The source said it was not clear whether a [Chinese coronavirus] infection in the past six months – which is suspected to be the justification for the player’s exemption – was sufficient to secure entry into Australia under federal guidelines,” The Age reported.
Having tested positive for Chinese coronavirus in the past six months is one of a short list of exemptions to the vaccine requirement.
“If you look at an Australian group of people applying for medical exemption, the vast majority are recent [Chinese coronavirus],” Tennis Australia’s chief medical officer Carolyn Broderick said on Wednesday, suggesting this to be the most likely scenario. Other reasons for exemptions including proven allergic reactions to ingredients in coronavirus vaccines.
Djokovic tested positive for coronavirus in 2020 amid his Adria Tour collapsing, but currently circulating variants, like the omicron variant potentially originating in Europe, have been known to thwart both natural and vaccine-induced antibodies.
Vaccine enthusiasts on social media erupted in outrage on Tuesday in response to Djokovic’s social media post.
“Vaccination shows respect,” one prominent social media health worker railed.
“What a disgrace!” said another Twitter user, a leader in the local left-wing Liberal Party.
The state employment minister for the government of Victoria, where the tournament is being held, called the exemption announcement “frustrating and upsetting.”
Djokovic has repeatedly advocated for vaccination being a personal choice.
“It doesn’t really matter whether it’s vaccination or anything else in life,” Djokovic said at a press conference in November. “You should have the freedom to choose, to decide what you want to do. In this particular case, what you want to put in your body. I have been always a proponent of that and always a supporter of freedom of choice, and I will be always supporting that because freedom is essential for I’d say a happy and prosperous life.”