As World No.1 Novak Djokovic and his team of lawyers appeal the visa rejection by the Australian Border Force, tennis players started to give their opinions on the controversy, choosing sides in the debacle between the Australian government and Djokovic.

American tennis star Tennys Sandgren came out in support of Novak Djokovic and mentioned that Australia doesn’t deserve to conduct a Grand Slam. Sandgren himself didn’t apply for medical exemption to play the Australian Open as he didn’t meet the criteria,

Tennys Sandgren supports Novak Djokovic in the ongoing Australian Open controversy

Djokovic could face a three-year ban from entering Australia if his appeal to overturn his cancelled visa fails.

“Just to be crystal clear here. 2 separate medical boards approved his exemption. And politicians are stopping it. Australia doesn’t deserve to host a grand slam,” tweeted Sandgren.

Mary Crock, Professor of Public Law at The University of Sydney, spoke in a recent interview about the consequences to be faced by Djokovic in the future.

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“The law on this is very weighted in favor of the government of the day. Conversely, if you apply for the wrong visa, the discretion to be granted another visa at the point of entry is very limited. If he’s deported from Australia, there’s a potential he could be excluded for three years.” 

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At the moment, things are unclear and multiple opinions are pouring in with respect to Novak Djokovic’s Australian Open participation. Yesterday, Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley revealed that a total of 26 people had applied for exemption for the ‘happy slam’.

Djokovic is not the only player to have applied for an exemption

Tiley repeatedly mentioned that there was no special treatment for their nine-time champion, Novak Djokovic, and strict rules were enforced to all players coming in for the tennis summer.

“If they didn’t meet the guidelines, and there were many that didn’t so therefore they were rejected, but if they met the guidelines including for example – which a lot of people forget – is one of those conditions is having COVID recently, in the past six months,” he said.

An interesting point of view would be to delve into the fact that there might be a handful of players and support staff who are currently in Australia after receiving the exemption.

It’s safe to assume that widespread public backlash to Novak Djokovic’s exemption permission played its part in the ongoing saga. What do you make of the entire situation? Let us know in the comments.

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