Pressure on Djokovic to justify the reasons for his exemption from the “Corona vaccine” to participate in “Tennis Australia”

The medical exemption granted to Serbian world number one Novak Djokovic to participate in the Australian Open, the first grand slam, sparked angry reactions in the country, as the president of the local federation of the game Craig Tiley asked him to reveal the reasons for this exemption, although he did not disclose at all whether He received a vaccine against the "Covid-19" virus or not.

"It would certainly be useful for Novak to explain the circumstances under which he applied for an exemption" to participate in the tournament, scheduled for January 17-30, said Tilley, director of the Australian Open also, in statements to reporters today. He added: "I encourage him to talk to the community about this, we have been through a very difficult time in the past two years and I would appreciate some of the answers."

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that he would ask Djokovic to prove that the "medical exemption" he received from the Australian Open was justified, or else he would be sent back "to his country with the first plane". "We are waiting for it to be presented and for it to provide us with evidence to justify" the exemption, Morrison said at a news conference. If his evidence is insufficient, he will not be treated differently from everyone else, and he will return home on the first plane. There will be no special rule for Novak Djokovic, not one.

” “There is no special advantage.”

The Australian Federation president said that the world's first ranked player did not receive any preferential treatment to obtain this exemption, during a process supervised by the Australian and Victorian authorities.

He said that 26 players or members of their technical, medical and administrative staff, out of the 3,000 expected to be present in Australia, requested an exemption, and only a few received it.

Tiley insisted, "Anyone who meets the conditions for an exemption is allowed entry (into Australia). There was no special preference. There was no special treatment for Novak."

He pointed out that the two committees responsible for examining exemption requests did so without knowing the identity of the applicants.

Djokovic is seeking his tenth title in the Australian Open, fourth in a row and 21 in the Grand Slam, thus setting the record for the number of titles in major tournaments, which he currently shares with Spaniard Rafael Nadal and Swiss Roger Federer.

In addition to the fact that the Australian Open is his favorite tournament, it is his first in his 20 titles in the Grand Slam, when he won it in 2008, and that no player has previously won it nine times. But “Noli”’s participation in this year’s edition has been under suspicion for many months due to obligating the participants and participants to receive the anti-Covid-19 vaccine, along with those close to them and members of their training and medical staff.

Djokovic has never talked about his vaccination status and in April 2020 he spoke that he was against the compulsory vaccination, which was necessary at the time to resume competitions despite the "Covid-19" pandemic. "Personally, I am not in favor of vaccinations. I do not like for someone to force me to be vaccinated to travel," he said at the time during a conversation with several Serbian athletes on his Facebook page. Djokovic obtained a "medical exemption" yesterday, and Australian regulations provide for this type of exemption to be granted in five specific cases, including infection with Covid-19 in the previous six months, serious medical contraindications, but the Australian Football Association resorted to medical confidentiality to determine which of them applies to Djokovic. .

"Spit in the face"

This announcement in particular provoked negative reactions from some players who denounced double standards, or in some Australian newspaper headlines, in a country where the measures to combat "Covid-19" have been particularly stringent since the beginning of the epidemic.

Former tennis player-turned-television commentator Sam Groth wrote in a column for the Melbourne Herald Sun newspaper that he "spit in the face of any Victorian and any Australian".

"You mean you have an exemption, but you don't want to say why? It's disgusting hypocrisy," he added.

British doubles player Jamie Murray, who is currently participating in the ATP Cup in Sydney, complained: "I think if I had not been vaccinated, I would not have been exempted."

Prominent Australian doctor Stephen Barnes criticized in a "strong message" on Twitter: "I don't care if a tennis player is good. If he refuses to receive the vaccine, he should not be allowed into the country."

"If this exemption is valid, it sends a sad message to the millions of people seeking to reduce the risk of contracting COVID-19 in Australia for themselves and others," he added.

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