{"id":181563,"date":"2022-01-04T12:04:36","date_gmt":"2022-01-04T13:04:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=181563"},"modified":"2022-01-04T13:58:52","modified_gmt":"2022-01-04T13:58:52","slug":"djokovic-granted-exemption-for-australian-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=181563","title":{"rendered":"Djokovic granted exemption for Australian Open"},"content":{"rendered":"

Controversial world No.1 men's tennis player Novak Djokovic<\/a> has been granted a medical exemption to play at the Australian Open<\/a> this month.<\/p>\n

The Serbian superstar has continually refused to divulge his COVID-19 vaccination status and tonight's development has triggered furious debate among tennis fans – and Australian society in general.<\/p>\n

"Happy New Year, everybody! Wishing you all health, love, and happiness in every present moment and may you feel love & respect towards all beings on this wonderful planet," Djokovic wrote on Instagram along with a photo of him at an airport and bags of luggage.<\/p>\n

LIVE UPDATES:<\/strong> Follow all the latest action from the ATP Cup<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0<\/strong>New twist in NFL star's explosive sudden exit<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0<\/strong>Khawaja brought in to Test team to replace Head<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CYTe9fer_1K\/?utm_medium=share_sheet<\/a><\/p>\n

"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!!"<\/p>\n

Tennis Australia later released a statement confirming that Djokovic had been granted an exemption and that he would play at the the AO.<\/p>\n

AO tournament director Craig Tiley said players must be fully vaccinated, unless there was a "genuine reason" why an exemption should be granted.<\/p>\n

The 2022 ATP Cup will be held in Sydney from January 1-9, with live matches, highlights, mini matches and full match replays on Stan Sport. New customers can start their free trial now by visiting:<\/strong><\/em> Stan.com.au\/tennis<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/wwos\/status\/1478338691579973637<\/a><\/p>\n

Organisers have not revealed any details of Djokovic's application "to ensure privacy," so it is not known on what grounds he applied or qualified for the medical exemption.<\/p>\n

"Fair and independent protocols were established for assessing medical exemption applications that will enable us to ensure Australian Open 2022 is safe and enjoyable for everyone," Tiley said. \u00a0<\/p>\n

"Central to this process was that the decisions were made by independent medical experts and that every applicant was given due consideration."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

TA said the review process was "rigorous" and involved two separate panels.<\/p>\n

"One of those was the Independent Medical Exemption Review Panel appointed by the Victorian Department of Health," the statement said.<\/p>\n

"They assessed all applications to see if they met the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation guidelines."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Djokovic has won a record nine Australian Opens and is chasing a record breaking 21st men's grand slam singles title in Melbourne.<\/p>\n

He is currently level with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal on 20.<\/p>\n

The Victorian Government said its "independent and rigorous process" had been set up specifically "to assess requests for medical exemptions at the Australian Open."<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/samphillips06\/status\/1478326763499364355?s=20<\/a><\/p>\n

Victoria's Deputy Premier James Merlino claimed in December that there would be no special favours for superstars.<\/p>\n

"They're the rules," Merlino said.<\/p>\n

"Medical exemptions are just that – it's not a loophole for privileged tennis players."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/em><\/strong> clicking here!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Controversial world No.1 men's tennis player Novak Djokovic has been granted a medical exemption to play at the Australian Open this month. The Serbian superstar […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181563"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=181563"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181563\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":181565,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181563\/revisions\/181565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=181563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=181563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=181563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}