Blocked at Melbourne airport due to a visa problem, prisoner in political-bureaucratic limbo, Novak Djokovic lives an experience like Tom Hanks in the film ‘The terminal’ when instead he believed he had now won the match against the strict anti Covid rules -19 expected in Australia. This is how his already troubled path to try the assault on his tenth victory at the Australian Open, a tournament ‘reserved for the vaccinated’ but which made an exception for the n.1 in the world, seems to begin in the worst way. If before the ok to the Serbian’s participation in the first slam of the season was coveted by organizers, fans and also by colleagues, now it is proving to be a boomerang not only for the tennis player, already not very popular, but also for the politicians of the country who are facing to the growing outrage and controversy over the exemption granted him they are backtracking trying to pass the ‘go-ahead’ hot potato to someone else. The first to pay the consequences was Djokovic himself, who after announcing yesterday with emphasis that he had obtained the exemption had boarded the first flight to Australia with his staff, but upon arriving in Melbourne around 11.30pm local time he was blocked and heard until late at night in a room of the Tullamarine airport by border police officers. According to local media, the problem concerns the documentation presented by the Serbian to obtain medical exemption and the visa presented which does not provide medical exemptions for those arriving from abroad. The authorities of the State of Victoria, urged to intervene, preferred not to do so. But even while the Serbian in flight, completely unaware, in Australia the controversy was raging like a bush fire and even the premier, Scott Morrison, intervened on the question, who threatened to bring the Serbian back “with the first plane” if his exemption from the vaccine requirement had not been justified. “We are waiting for explanations and for him to provide us with supporting evidence” of this waiver, he said, adding that “there will be no special rules”. Meanwhile, Australian Open director Craig Tiley urged the tennis player to disclose the reason for his “medical exemption”. His waiver application was screened by federal and state authorities, Tiley said, as were those submitted by 26 other players or staff members out of the approximately 3,000 expected in Australia for the various tournaments. Few have achieved it.
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Source From: Ansa
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