Olympic champion Alexander Zverev kept a low profile in the immigration thriller about world number one Novak Djokovic.

"At the end of the day it would have helped if he was vaccinated," said Zverev on Thursday in Sydney after his match at the ATP Cup against the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime.

“But he got a special permit, so there must be a reason for it.

There are also five other professionals who received an exception, but we don't know their names. "

The very likely unvaccinated Djokovic had traveled to Australia with a highly controversial medical exemption and landed in Melbourne late on Wednesday evening (local time).

The Australian border protection authorities had denied him entry because he had not presented any suitable evidence to meet the entry requirements.

Djokovic has sued, a court in Melbourne wants to make a decision on Monday.

The Australian Open begins a week later.

"Would be nice if he were there"

“It's a Grand Slam tournament that he has won nine times.

It would be nice for tennis if he was there, ”said Zverev.

“But rules are rules.

I'll never say a bad word about Novak in my life, but I don't know enough details to be able to protect him. "

Djokovic's rival Rafael Nadal, meanwhile, has little sympathy for the Serb after the world's number one had his visa revoked to enter Australia.

“I had Covid, I have been vaccinated twice.

If you do, you will have no problem playing here and anywhere in the world.

That's the only thing that's clear, "said the Spaniard in Melbourne on Thursday.

“He took a different path, he made his own decisions.

And everyone is free to make their own decisions, but then there are consequences. "

He was also a little sorry for Djokovic, but "there are rules, and if you don't want to be vaccinated, you can run into problems," said Nadal, emphasizing that Djokovic had "known the conditions for many months".

Otherwise, Nadal did not want to comment on the explosive case.

The people in Australia went through difficult times because of the pandemic.

Therefore, he can understand their displeasure with the exception for Djokovic.

Melbourne, where the first Grand Slam tournament of the tennis season begins on January 17th, had one of the longest lockdowns in the world at 262 days.

Nadal won his opening game against the Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis 6: 2, 7: 5 in a preparatory tournament for the Australian Open.

It was his first individual win on the tennis tour since August 2021. After that, Nadal had sidelined for a long time because of a complicated foot injury.