Australia cancels Djokovic visa again

MELBOURNE (AFP) – Australia’s government cancelled Novak Djokovic’s visa for a second time Friday as it sought to deport the tennis superstar a er he arrived in the country without a Covid-19 vaccine.

Immigration Minister Alex Hawke said he acted on “health and good order grounds on the basis that it was in the public interest to do so”.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s government “is firmly committed to protecting Australia’s borders, particularly in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic ,” Hawke said in a statement. The cancellation effectively means Djokovic would be barred from a new Australian visa for three years, except under certain circumstances.

The visa decision put the Serbian world number one’s dream of a 10th Australian Open title and a record 21st Grand Slam in peril.

Djokovic is the tournament’s top seed and had been practising on the Melbourne Park courts a few hours earlier.

The megastar flew into Melbourne airport on January 5 claiming a vaccine exemption because of a positive PCR test result on December 16.

- ‘All fools’ -

Border agents rejected his exemption, tore up his visa and placed him in a notorious Melbourne detention centre where he spent four nights.

The Australian government insists a recent infection does not qualify as a vaccine exemption for foreign nationals trying to enter the country.