January 14, (THEWILL) – Novak Djokovic’s visa has been revoked once more by Australia putting his entire participation in the first Grand Slam of the year, the Australian Open, in question all over again.
Alex Hawke, Australia’s Immigration Minister, said in a statement on Friday that he “carefully considered information provided to me by the Department of Home Affairs, the Australian Border Force, and Mr Djokovic” before reaching the decision.
The official statement making his public read: “Today I exercised my power under section 133C(3) of the Migration Act to cancel the visa held by Mr Novak Djokovic on health and good order grounds, on the basis that it was in the public interest to do so.
“This decision followed orders by the Federal Circuit and Family Court on 10 January 2022, quashing a prior cancellation decision on procedural fairness grounds.
“The Morrison Government is firmly committed to protecting Australia’s borders, particularly in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
THEWILL recalls that Djokovic’s visa was originally revoked last Thursday, a decision that was overturned by a federal judge on Monday, but Hawke has now revoked it again.
Yet, the 34-year-old has the option of filing a new court challenge to the ruling.
On Thursday, the nine-time Australian Open champion was paired with compatriot Miomir Kecmanovic, but the world number one’s participation was called into question after it was revealed that his pre-travel declaration form had been filled out wrongly.
The ambiguity surrounding Djokovic’s visa cancellation has dominated the build-up to the year’s first Grand Slam, with Stefanos Tsitsipas claiming that Djokovic “played by his own rules”, making “the majority look like they are all fools”.
As THEWILL reported, Djokovic slammed the “continuing misinformation” surrounding his COVID status on Wednesday, but did confess to making a mistake by holding an interview with L’Equipe after testing positive.
The world number one put the blunder on his pre-travel declaration form down to human error, saying he had replied ‘No’ to the question of whether he had travelled in the two weeks leading up to his journey to Australia. During that time, he had visited both Spain and Serbia.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
