Novak Djokovic’s package is not the first to intervene in a major tournament for non-sporting reasons. But in the other cases, it was the international tennis bodies that had put their veto and not a State.
Game, set and match for the Australian Government. And the end of an incredible affair, very publicized and extraordinary, because it is the first time in the history of tennis that a government prohibits a player, able to play, from playing in a Grand Slam tournament.
Read alsoVincent Chaudel: “This Djokovic case can weaken the tennis economy”
The Serb’s withdrawal is not, however, the first to intervene in a major tournament for non-sporting reasons. But in the other cases, it was the international tennis bodies that had put their veto and not a State.
Exhibitions
In 1974, Philippe Chatrier, the president of the French Tennis Federation, deprived Jimmy Connors of Roland-Garros. The American, who that year had won the Australian Open in January, then Wimbledon and the US Open, had been punished by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) – which has the responsibility for the four Grand Slam events – for having participated, the month preceding the meeting at Porte d’Auteuil, in the World Team Tennis, a brand new series…
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