Novak Djokovic live updates: Latest news on Australian Open vaccine row

US Open champion Daniil Medvedev has resisted the opportunity to take sides in the debate over Novak Djokovic’s visa situation ahead of the Australian Open.

The Russian will be elevated to the number one seed if Djokovic retires due to visa issues and maintains that he is simply concentrating on himself right now.

“If I had a fair exemption from the rule, well, it should be here; if he didn’t, he shouldn’t be here, ”Medvedev said.

“It sounds easy, but it seems very difficult in real life, and I don’t know the inside of the story, so I am concentrating on myself.”

While Novak Djokovic’s status is up in the air for the Australian Open, the current odds, should he play, have him as second seed:

– Felix Auger Aliassime 50/1

– Roberto Bautista Agut 100/1

Djokovic’s situation appears to have found itself in the midst of a public joust between the conservative administration of Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the left-leaning Victorian government led by Prime Minister Dan Andrews.

Daily Covid infections in Australia hit a record for the fourth day in a row, with new cases surpassing 72,000, overwhelming hospitals and causing a labor shortage.

Under Australia’s federal system, states and territories can issue waivers of vaccination requirements to enter their jurisdictions. However, the federal government controls international borders and can challenge such exemptions.

Djokovic traveled to Australia after receiving a waiver from the Victorian government. That waiver, the reasons for which are unknown, supported his federally issued visa.

Novak Djokovic has been backed by Ukrainian tennis player Sergiy Stakhovsky, who has condemned the treatment of Serbs in Australia.

He said: “The next time someone tells you ‘sport is not interfering with politics’, you remember January 6, 2022 when the purely political ‘ego’ does not allow the best tennis player in the world to enter the country to which … . ‘entry granted to government institutions “.

Former Australian Open Executive Director Paul McNamee has said: “For those who ask, all players go through the same visa process overseen by Tennis Australia to play the Australian Open (as non-Australians currently cannot Enterokay).

“So Djokovic is not believed to be the only player who has had his visa granted and then rescinded.”

Novak Djokovic fans have gathered outside his quarantine hotel to protest his deportation status.

A final decision will be made on Monday on whether to grant the Serbian a visa allowing him to play in the Australian Ope.

But fans of the 20-time Grand Slam winner have reacted angrily and rallied to protest his plight.

Federal health authorities told Tennis Australia boss Craig Tiley on two separate occasions that players or the coaching staff who were not vaccinated and who had contracted Covid in the last six months would not be granted a free trip. quarantine Australia.

Australian publication The Age reported that the world’s number one male applied for an exemption on the basis of contracting the virus within the six-month period.

But the first deputy secretary of the Department of Health, Lisa Schofield, said that “people who have had Covid previously and have not received a dose of the vaccine are not considered fully vaccinated,” adding that no one to whom this has been presented application would be granted free entry from quarantine regardless of prior exemptions. from other countries.

Dustin Brown has joined the debate surrounding the possible deportation of Novak Djokovic from Australia.

The German has no sympathy for Djokovic and insists he knew the consequences of his decision long ago.

He said: “Every player on the (ATP / WTA) tour has a decision to make. Obviously everyone in the world too, but let’s focus on tennis here. Depending on what they believe in, they decided to take it or not to take it …

“Both decisions come / came with consequences that we have / have all had to deal with. If I decide that I don’t want to take it (for whatever reason), then I have to live with the consequences of not being able to enter a country, if they have a rule that says you have to get vaccinated.

“It doesn’t matter if I feel this is right or wrong. This is the world we live in today and more and more countries will have rules like this. “

If a player feels that one of the items on the criteria list applies to him, then he must submit a request for examination by two panels.

They are: 1) Panel of physicians 2) Panel of medical experts appointed by the government.

The identities of these players must be hidden by the panels.

After previously outlining the exemption process for vaccination and for playing at the 202 Australian Open in Melbourne, it is unclear what criteria Novak Djokovic has asserted to make him eligible for an exemption.

The Serb previously tested positive for Covid in the summer of 2020, although no positive test has been made public in the past six months. This appears to be the most likely cause for an exemption, although Djokovic or his team have yet to confirm a second positive test in the past six months.

In case Djokovic has not contracted the virus for the second time in the last six months, then he will need “a serious illness”, which seems unlikely.

Which then leaves us with the 20 Grand Slam winner perhaps hoping to prove that he has had a “serious adverse event” to a previous Covid vaccine.

Djokovic has never disclosed his status or experience regarding a possible vaccine.