2022 WTA Tour
2022 ATP Tour
Qualies action should begin tomorrow (December 31st) so time to get the thread underway.
Here's to hoping we'll see some great tennis/storylines this year.
Still at the airport
Meanwhile, Srdjan Djokovic not taking this well
Well I saw a clip of channel 9 news who went out and interviewed people in Melbourne and they were less than happy to put it mildly given that they have been under restrictions and have had to follow the rules and they aren’t happy that a tennis player in their eyes seems to be getting “preferential treatment” and that’s why the politicians seem to be having a conniption because the voters, sorry people are pissed off over this. That’s the issue.
yes - I said that in my next post about the impasse between State and Federal.
it's become a projection for frustrations at prior governmental pandemic policy decisions.
get that fully.
and now the different politicians are struggling how to handle it and trying to avoid carrying the can!
who knows what is going to happen? - complete and utter mess whatever goes down eventually!
"Hello Federal Immigration Australia? Yes I have some very important information on the visa requirements for a certain Mr.Djokovic"
I knew it was Federer behind this all along 🤣!
Decision apparently coming inside the next two hours. I'd be deeply shocked if he's turned away, I think this is all about making a point. Either way though, it's been fun seeing him being made to sweat it out for a while 😂
If it was some Djokovic "team" member responsible for applying for / filling out the visa form I wouldn't fancy being them.
Some debacle either way for all involved really.
Different dynamics at play at this point.
Djokovic far from the only one to make use of the exemptions process.
Does put things into perspective a little.
Because of money and his reputation he gets treated favourably. He doesn't deserve it.
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic of course gets special treatment, all should be treated the same
The circus rumbles on
Uh-oh
What an omnishambles
It's all gone Pete Tong
Where can it all possibly go from here!?
Even if he is deported, could he potentially make it back in time for the Australian Open start date? No idea how long it'd take him to get another visa.
Well the prime minister did say if everything wasn’t up to date and is dotted and Ts crossed then he wouldn’t be left it and it seems he won’t be left in. I mean if nothing else it shows that they are going to enforce their rules as they have them laid out and nobody will get special treatment but I probably didn’t need to come to this to prove that point.
It's fcuking Saipan with tennis balls.
😂😂 So who’s the Labrador and Tommie Gorman in this situation ?
edit: Tony O Donoughue was involved but he didn’t interview Roy keane.
If he hadn't sent that tweet telling the world he was delighted to soon be entering Australia unvaccinated I'm sure he'd have been in his hotel hours ago. I guess he could have also just got vaccinated. Still I'm surprised they've told him to fúck off.
Depending on why he is being deported (subject to appeal), it may not be possible to get a visa in the short term, as the facts might (only might) still be against him.
Nothing about this surprises me. The Federal government has seen the pubic sentiment, and it does not want to be seen to be bending the rules for the rich and famous, Nor is Djokovic's flat-out refusal to get vaccinated a shock.
The brave 1-post heroes have arrived (too afraid to post under own account - truly bizarre!)
Again, would NOT want to be in the shoes of whatever "team" Djokovic member made the visa balls-up!
Will surely be looking for a "new role" soon.
It has all become conflated; politics, pandemic policy resentment, visa errors, vaccines, tennis, the 26 exemption applicants but only 1 matters?, choice, international diplomacy - and ended up in a complete international debacle!
Plus the bad feeling from last year when 30,000+ Australians couldn’t get back to Australia, but the tennis players could.
Omnishambles is a good way to describe it. No one is coming out of this well, the hand wringing which took place while Djokovic was in the air are sickening, but that's politics. I wonder if the other 5 players who got exemptions were held for several hours in similar fashion? I presume not but then again, they presumably didn't leave it until the last minute to sort out an exemption.
Djokovic has become a political football, but he brought it on himself. He has continually failed to read the room in relation to covid and what people internationally were going through and how this would make them feel about unvaccinated people 'swanning around'.
Serbia and adjoining countries are and have been basically fully open for most of the pandemic (the Adria Tour was perfectly legal, in those terms). So a Serb may not fully understand or sympathise with a Aussie who has been through considerable hardship. A tennis player who has spent most of the year doing international travel and probalby dosent have anyone in his bubble calling him an ass may not fully understand it either.
It really is a pity, no one wins here, well, apart from Medvedev...
Theres also talk of the French stopping unvaccinated rubgy players entering the country in the coming months, so the next slam might prove difficult to play in too. Then again, Monaco/France may not count as an actual border.
Ha ha well for him....delighted...absolute clown
This is honestly so entertaining.
not at all.
it's just all a mess.
he's not done yet in tennis.
I'm more worried about what sort of pathetic sad sack has to create a new boards account to think that they might be able to annoy people but just ends up looking like a... pathetic sad sack
You're on ignore - so sorry your trolling is not even being seen - even more sad and pathetic for you!
How could Djokovic's team go to all this trouble to get the exemption and then balls up the visa, they managed to follow the process to allow him play at the AO, but, failed to follow the process to enter the country, absolutely ridiculous, you'd imagine they'd have everything in order. It'll be very difficult for him to overturn this in time to play, what could well happen is it will be overturned, but, too late for him to play. It'll be very interesting if he does manage to get to play at the AO, which looks very unlikely now.
I wonder will the Serbian President still be fighting for justice and truth if the true extent of his "diet change" ever emerges.
The US also currently require non-US citizens to be fully vaccinated so in the case of not being allowed to compete in Roland Garros, that would only leave Wimbledon for him to compete in.
The Australian ambassador to Serbia has apparently been summoned to the office of the Serbian president according to BBC five live. It’s getting a bit out of hand now. And a texter to the show said if you need to be vaxxed to attend the event, why shouldn’t you need one to play.
Well Wimbledon was always going to be his best chance of a slam this year 🤣
If it remains that way will really be putting his convictions to the test!
I wonder what's going to happen with the other 5 applicants who were granted exemptions - will they be sent home from Australia also now if they have the wrong visa applied for...?
Maybe they are in the country already....
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