Novak Djokovic, the world's number one tennis player, was expelled from Australia on Wednesday for failing to meet the health requirements for entry, authorities in that country reported.
The Australian Open champion spent the night at Melbourne's Tullamarine Airport, where Australian immigration authorities
prevented him from entering the country and canceled his visa
.
"The Australian Border Force can confirm that Mr. Djokovic did not present the appropriate evidence to comply with Australia's requirements and that his visa has subsequently been canceled," Australian authorities wrote in a press release Wednesday afternoon. .
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Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic in a file photo dated Dec. 3, 2021.Bernat Armangue / AP
"Foreigners who do not have a valid visa to enter the country or whose visa has been canceled will be detained and removed from Australia," added the authorities.
Djokovic, who has Serbian nationality, flew to Australia to defend his champion title.
To do this,
he had requested a medical exemption to avoid having to prove his vaccination status against COVID-19
, a medical issue that he has not disclosed to the public.
According to reports in the Australian media, Djokovic's team applied for the wrong type of visa for someone with a medical exemption.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić called the incident "harassment" to the tennis player who has won 20 championships in major competitions around the world and assured that the Serbian authorities were supporting him.
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Djokovic's father, Srdjan Djokovic, told the B92 website that
his son was held "in a room that no one can enter"
at the airport, guarded by two policemen.
Djokovic's participation in the Australian Open has become a controversial political issue, as many Australians were outraged that he had been granted an exemption to enter the country without having to prove his coronavirus vaccination status.
The announcement that Djokovic was traveling to Australia on Wednesday to defend his champion title shocked the country of Oceania.
While some questioned whether Djokovic really had grounds for requesting a medical exemption, others argued that the tennis player had a right to privacy.
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Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley said "the process and application was completely legitimate" and insisted that there was no special treatment for Djokovic.
The government of the state of Victoria had established that no player, employee or fan could enter the Melbourne Park stadium, where the tournament will begin on January 17, without proving that they had already been fully inoculated.
Of the 26 players who applied for a medical exemption, only a handful were granted, according to The Associated Press news agency.
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Reasons for the exemption include having extremely adverse symptoms with the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine;
certain serious health problems or evidence of having had a COVID-19 infection in the last six months.
Djokovic tested positive for COVID-19 in June 2020
after playing several exhibition matches in Serbia and Croatia without maintaining social distance.
At first, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that the decision on the medical exemption was a matter for the government of the state of Victoria, of which Melbourne is the capital.
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"They have provided (Djokovic) an exemption to come to Australia, and so we acted on that," Morrison said.
"States provide waivers for people to enter on that basis, and that has been happening for the past two years," added the prime minister.
However, Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews clarified the border process shortly after.
"While the Victorian Government and the Australian Tennis Federation
may allow an unvaccinated player to compete in the Australian Open, it is the Commonwealth Government that will enforce our requirements at the Australian border
," Andrews said.
"If an arriving person is not vaccinated, they must provide acceptable proof that they cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons in order to access the same travel plan as fully vaccinated travelers," he said.
When asked again about the Djokovic case, Morrison added: "If that evidence is insufficient, then he will not be treated differently from anyone else and he will be on the next plane home."