{"id":184610,"date":"2022-01-11T14:14:10","date_gmt":"2022-01-11T15:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=184610"},"modified":"2022-01-11T18:59:16","modified_gmt":"2022-01-11T18:59:16","slug":"djokovics-open-hopes-in-limbo-amid-probe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=184610","title":{"rendered":"Djokovic's Open hopes in limbo amid probe"},"content":{"rendered":"

Novak Djokovic<\/a> may have held a practice session at Melbourne Park on Tuesday, his second day out of detention, but still faces the prospect of deportation because he\u2019s not vaccinated for COVID-19.<\/p>\n

The top-ranked Djokovic hit the show courts within hours of winning a legal battle Monday against the cancellation of his visa, based on procedural grounds. He returned Tuesday afternoon for a closed practice, with doors locked and only his support team allowed into Rod Laver Arena.<\/p>\n

While he\u2019s trying to make up time after spending four days confined to an immigration detention hotel, Djokovic is conscious he could again have his visa revoked ahead of the Australian Open<\/a>.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Rival takes fresh swipe at Djokovic amid Aus Open chaos<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A source with knowledge of the situation told CNN the Australian Border Force is investigating whether Djokovic submitted a false travel declaration ahead of his arrival in Australia.<\/p>\n

Djokovic declared he had not travelled and would not do so in the 14 days leading to his arrival in Australia on Wednesday January 5, according to a travel declaration submitted as evidence to the court determining whether he would be allowed to remain in Australia.<\/p>\n

Various pictures taken during that two-week period appear to show Djokovic in both Spain and Serbia.<\/p>\n

Djokovic told border officers that Tennis Australia completed the declaration on his behalf, but it was noted by the officer who cancelled his visa that the sporting body would have facilitated that \u201cbased on information the visa holder provided\u201d.<\/p>\n

The penalty for submitting a false travel declaration carries a maximum penalty of 12 months' prison, according to the Department of Home Affairs website.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The ABF investigation comes as Immigration Minister Alex Hawke considers exercising his power to deport the 34-year-old Serbian under separate legislation, assessing a medical exemption that the unvaccinated Djokovic relied on to fly into Melbourne and the information supplied in the visa application.<\/p>\n

Mr Hawke\u2019s office has issued a statement saying the matter is still under consideration \u201cin line with due process\u201d.<\/p>\n

The prime ministers of Australia and Serbia discussed Djokovic's precarious visa earlier on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The deportation drama has polarised opinions and elicited strong support for the 20-time Grand Slam winner in his native Serbia.<\/p>\n

\"Djokovic<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Kyrgios tees off in Djokovic video message<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Tomic 'feeling really sick' hours after mid-match COVID claim<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his Serbian counterpart, Ana Brnabi\u0107, agreed in their telephone conversation to keep in touch over the disputed visa, Mr Morrison's office said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe PM explained our non-discriminatory border policy and its role in protecting Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic,\u201d Mr Morrison\u2019s office said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Ms Brnabi\u0107 asked Mr Morrison to ensure Djokovic was treated with dignity, public broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) reported.<\/p>\n

\"Mr<\/p>\n

\u201cThe (Serbian) prime minister especially emphasised the importance of the conditions for training and physical preparation for the upcoming competition, considering that Novak Djokovic was not allowed to train in the previous days,\u201d RTS reported.<\/p>\n

Djokovic posted an image of himself and three members of his team at Melbourne Park in the very early hours of Tuesday on social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m pleased and grateful that the Judge overturned my visa cancellation. Despite all that has happened, I want to stay and try to compete @AustralianOpen. I remain focused on that,\u201d Djokovic tweeted. \u201cI flew here to play at one of the most important events we have in front of the amazing fans.\u201d<\/p>\n

A border official cancelled Djokovic\u2019s visa at Melbourne\u2019s airport last Thursday, hours after he arrived in Australia from Marbella, Spain, to compete in the tournament.<\/p>\n

\"Djokovic<\/p>\n

A judge restored his visa and ordered Djokovic be released from detention on Monday, citing procedural errors by the border officials at the airport.<\/p>\n

Djokovic had been given a medical exemption by the Victorian government and Tennis Australia, the tournament organizer, from its vaccination rules to compete because he was infected with COVID-19 last month.<\/p>\n

But Border Force declined to allow him an exemption from national vaccination rules for incoming non-citizens.<\/p>\n

It said an infection in the previous six months was only a ground for a vaccine exemption in cases in which the coronavirus caused severe illness.<\/p>\n

Since Djokovic\u2019s visa was cancelled, Czech tennis player Renata Vor\u00e1\u010dov\u00e1 and an unnamed European tennis official have been deported for similar reasons.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Morrison government has blamed the debacle on Tennis Australia, which ministers accuse of misleading players about Australia\u2019s vaccine requirements. But newspapers have reported that Tennis Australia had pleaded with the Department of Home Affairs to check the visa paperwork of Djokovic and other players before their in-bound flights.<\/p>\n

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said the federal government had changed its border rules in recent months.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we talked about exemptions previously, you would recall that Minister Hawke had said that it was his expectation that if you weren\u2019t double-vaxxed, you wouldn\u2019t get into the country whether you\u2019re playing tennis or doing anything else,\u201d said Mr Andrews.<\/p>\n

\u201cTurned out that wasn\u2019t the Commonwealth government\u2019s position and that they have been letting people in who haven\u2019t been double-vaxxed."<\/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 clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Novak Djokovic may have held a practice session at Melbourne Park on Tuesday, his second day out of detention, but still faces the prospect of […]<\/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\/184610"}],"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=184610"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":184612,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184610\/revisions\/184612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=184610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=184610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=184610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}