MELBOURNE, Jan 16: Novak Djokovic left Australia on Sunday evening after losing his final bid to avoid deportation and play in the Australian Open despite being unvaccinated for COVID-19.
A court earlier unanimously dismissed the No 1-ranked tennis player’s challenge to cancel his visa.
Djokovic, a 34-year-old from Serbia, said he was “extremely disappointed” by the ruling but respected it.
Australian media reported Djokovic was seen upon arrival at Melbourne’s airport. He left on an Emirates flight to Dubai, the same United Arab Emirates city he flew to Australia from. He has won a record nine Australian Open titles, including three in a row, but this time won’t even get the chance to try.
“I respect the Court’s ruling and I will cooperate with the relevant authorities in relation to my departure from the country,” he said in a statement. Djokovic said he was “uncomfortable that the focus had been on him since his visa was first cancelled on arrival at Mebourne’s airport on January 6.
A deportation order also usually includes a three-year ban on returning to Australia.
In Serbia, President Aleksandar Vucic said the hearing was “a farce with a lot of lies.” “They think that they humiliated Djokovic with this 10-day harassment, and they actually humiliated themselves. If you said that the one who was not vaccinated has no right to enter, Novak would not come or would be vaccinated,” Vucic told reporters.
He said he told Djokovic after talking to him “that we can’t wait to see him in Serbia, to return to his country, to come where he is always welcome.”
Prime Minister Scott Morrison welcomed what he described as the “decision to keep our borders strong and keep Australians safe.”
Djokovic’s visa was initially cancelled on January 6 by a border official who decided he didn’t qualify for a medical exemption from Australia’s rules for unvaccinated visitors. He was exempted from the tournament’s vaccine rules because he had been infected with the virus within the previous six months. (AP)
