Immigration Minister Alex Hawke stripped Djokovic of his visa on Friday, not only for health reasons, but also because of maintaining order. He feared that the presence of an unvaccinated tennis player would support the vaccine’s opponents in the country and they could cause unrest.
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Djokovic said after the verdict he was “extremely disappointed” but accepted the decision. In Melbourne, he was to defend last year’s victory at the Australian Open, where he has won nine times.
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Djokovic’s defense before the three judges insisted that the reasons for which he had been deprived of a visa were not valid and illogical. Djokovic is not vaccinated against covid, but he has never been involved in the vaccine campaign.
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But Judge James Allsop said the court was ruling only on whether the minister’s action was in accordance with the law, not whether his decision was correct.
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Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison welcomed the verdict as “a decision to keep the border closed” and “to keep Australians safe”.
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This is the second time in a short time that Djokovic has been stripped of his visa in Australia, the first time because he has not complied with the anti-coid order and has filled out a bad application for entry. For the first time, a court presided over by another judge ruled in Djokovic’s favor.
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Djokovic argued that he did not need to be vaccinated because he suffered a covid in December. However, he admitted that he did not fully comply with the quarantine at the time, as he gave an interview to journalists from the L´Equipe newspaper.
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