Exemption, visa problems, quarantine hotel: Djokovic’s entry into Australia was anything but smooth. The Serbian superstar has been waiting since Wednesday to see whether he will be granted entry or not. The Australian Open will start on January 17th and give Djokovic the chance to leave his rivals Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer behind with a 21st Grand Slam victory.
But before that, his lawyers first had to fight the withdrawal of his visa: The apparently unvaccinated athlete had obtained a controversial exception to participate in the tournament, but when he entered the border guards at Melbourne Airport discovered that his visa was invalid. Djokovic did not provide sufficient evidence to authorize him to enter, it said.
Now Djokovic is waiting until at least Monday in the Park Hotel in the Carlton district, which is well below its usual price range. He shares the five-story hotel around four kilometers from the city center with asylum seekers who have been rejected by Australia. A graffito is emblazoned above the door frame: “Free them all.”
“No fresh air, no space”
The building is currently receiving a lot of attention from Djokovic. In addition to the deployed police, the press and Djokovic’s fans gather again and again to demonstrate loudly for their star with Serbian national flags. Djokovic is located on the first floor, above which around 30 men from different countries live who were brought to the mainland for medical treatment from Australian camps in the impoverished South Pacific island states of Papua New Guinea and Nauru.
“We’re stuck in our room. There is no fresh air. We don’t have a place to train. There is no gym here. It’s very difficult, ”Hossein Latifi, a 32-year-old Iranian, told Reuters.
Policy of deterrence
Australia has had a strict policy of deterring asylum seekers for decades. People who arrive without a visa will be detained. People who arrive by boat come to the island camps. Manus was closed in 2016, the center of Nauru remained open. It was not until 2019 that the government allowed the temporary transfer of seriously ill refugees to Australia for medical treatment.
Fans want to support Djokovics
Novak Djokovic is still in quarantine at a hotel in Australia. His fans want to appeal to the authorities for the unvaccinated tennis star so that he can participate in the Australian Open.
Latifi said he had been on the mainland for two years and had been trapped in the hotel for four months. How long, and where it will go afterwards, he does not know. “We are refugees, we are innocent people – we have not committed a crime. You’re just holding me here like a hostage, ”the news agency quoted him as saying.
Some of the men complain of miserable conditions and poor catering in the accommodation. Maggots and mold are sometimes found in the food. The situation in the hotel worsened again at Christmas. There were several fires in the building on December 23rd, damaging the third and fourth floors. Refugees and Covid-19 sufferers who were also isolated there were evacuated together, which also resulted in some infections.
Djokovic, the “prisoner”
In contrast to the people held there permanently, Djokovic only has to stay in the hotel for a few days. Still unacceptable for his family – Djokovic’s father even compared the tennis professional to Jesus. His mother said her son was being held as a “prisoner”. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic campaigned to allow Djokovic to move into a rented house. Serbia regards Australia’s dealings with its citizens as harassment. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Belgrade on Thursday. They carried Serbian flags or banners, including the inscription: “You are afraid of the best, stop corona fascism.”
Djokovic thanked the world for support on Friday. He wrote on Instagram: “I can feel it and I appreciate it very much.”
Australian authorities see Djokovic’s situation differently: The 34-year-old is by no means being held captive, he can leave the country at any time, it said on Friday. The country has had several tough lockdowns and extremely strict entry restrictions. Even many of the country’s citizens were unable to travel to their homeland and their families for a very long time because Australia had sealed itself off to protect itself against the introduction of the corona virus. The fact that Djokovic, who publicly spoke out against compulsory vaccination and does not want to reveal his vaccination status, should now simply enter, outraged many Australians.
The dispute is likely to last longer, because Djokovic is not the only tennis professional with a Covid 19 exemption. A “handful” have received such approval, according to the director of the Australian Open, Craig Tiley. Djokovic now has the company of a colleague: the Czech double specialist Renata Voracova is now also staying in the Park Hotel. Her Australian visa was also invalid.
