Who is being U, Australia or Novak Djokovic?

[inheritancetrack]

Me, I'm in the you can't have your cake and eat it Novak, camp!

What is the benefit to the Australian government of having ND playing the tournament?

A tennis superstar defending his title on Australian soil! International sporting events bring huge financial benefits to the hosting economy.

That’s why he was given the visa and the medical exemption in the first place. Don’t for once think that the government (state and federal) had zero idea of ND’s stance on vaccines. They were just happy to have an external board do the checks so that when the proverbial sh*t hit the fan they could look blameless.

When the public got wind of the medical exemption (because ND told them via Insta!) the government needed to do some quick firefighting. They are hoping we would all assume ND didn’t have a medical exemption and had been vaccinated.

This is all to do with Australian politics - Scott Morrison is up for re-election this year….

They were hoping..

Honestly, if only ND had kept his mouth shut…. I bet that’s what the state and federal governments, plus TA, are thinking right now.

They’ve also had to eject 4 other players/support staff because this loophole has been exposed by ND.

@Blackbird2020

What is the benefit to the Australian government of having ND playing the tournament?

A tennis superstar defending his title on Australian soil! International sporting events bring huge financial benefits to the hosting economy.

That’s why he was given the visa and the medical exemption in the first place. Don’t for once think that the government (state and federal) had zero idea of ND’s stance on vaccines. They were just happy to have an external board do the checks so that when the proverbial sh*t hit the fan they could look blameless.

When the public got wind of the medical exemption (because ND told them via Insta!) the government needed to do some quick firefighting. They are hoping we would all assume ND didn’t have a medical exemption and had been vaccinated.

This is all to do with Australian politics - Scott Morrison is up for re-election this year….

But the competition hasn't been cancelled and from what I hear from relatives in Australia lots of spectators were going to boycott the tournament if ND played.

I understand the bit about having a medical exemption from (supposedly) having Covid but his behaviour in mixing with people after a positive result and also travelling to another country in the 14 days before arriving in Australia should have been enough for the authorities to revoke his visa.

If you or I did that we would have been on the next flight back. Just because he has money and can hit a tennis ball doesn't give him the right to ride roughshod over the rules, whether you agree with them or not.

@pussycatunpickingcrossesagain

Just as an aside, but still regarding professional sport...

The English Ashes team and their supporting staff have managed to get to Australia and gracefully surrender the Ashes again so had Novax wanted to, he could have...he just thought he was superior. Difficult for him to realise he isn't.

Oh God, there goes the last wicket!🦆

Compare & contrast Sam Billings, fully vaxxed, staying in his Sydney Thunder bubble, taking a PCR test, driving 500 miles solo across Australia, then taking another PCR test to make sure he could join the England bubble when they needed him, not even sure if he was going to do anything more than be 12th man. But Novax won't even have a jab, let alone isolate after testing positive.

There is definitely a political element to some of this, but fundamentally it boils down to the fact that Djokovic is a massively arrogant prick. He might be a great tennis player. But he's a horrible person.

👋👋👋

I missed the rallying song?

@Blackbird2020

As I’ve said before he’s not being kicked out because he has lied on a form.

He’s being removed because the Australian government thought they could get away with quietly allowing him into the country to play, against all current guidelines, and it backfired on them when their public got (rightly) upset.

Actually he's being removed because Scott Morrison is desperately trying to distract public attention from the entire balls up surrounding the management off the current covid wave. There are people whose PCR tests haven't been processed because there backlog was so great. There are almost no Rapid Antigen Tests available and they are not free for everyone like in the UK. Novak is bread and circuses for the federal government.

@sadeyedladyofthelowlandsea
Well said.

@ConcernedAuntie

Absolutely. I was answering your question thinking you meant generally why would Oz want ND (before it all kicked off).

Both Oz and ND come off badly. Oz for showing the double standards it’s capable of re vaccination requirements for non-Oz visitors (remember the 1st judge said ‘What more can this man do? He has all his documentation.’, and ND for being the selfish, narcissistic, and entitled person he has shown himself to be.

yy inherit it's the lying and concocting a story to try and cover his tracks that looks really bloody bad.

tennis superstar defending his title on Australian soil! International sporting events bring huge financial benefits to the hosting economy.

But he's never been very popular with the spectators. (Plus, I have family in Australia and people there were not happy about him being let in).

And they have another tennis superstar there. Rafa Nadal.

This is the most annoying thing about his deportation. A pp assumed Djokovic would have won. Good chance, yes, but Rafa shouldn't be underestimated. He's still one of the top players in the world. People acting like Djokovic is the GOAT yet he is, for now, tied with Rafa and Roger on grand slam wins. We'll never know if Rafa would've beaten him. Maybe not, but the possiblity shouldn't be ruled out.
Like Rafa himself said, the tournament is about more than just one player.

Remember Emma Raducanu's win in the US Open. You never know who will win.

As for Djokovic. It was the right decision, but actually I do have a little sympathy for him. Boris Becker mentioned Djokovic's childhood. Sheltering in a bunker aged 10, during the war. I think his early experiences went a long way towards shaping his attitude (me vs everyone else/the world) - and that of his parents.

Anyway he's got some consolation. He may not get into the US, not France (although that depends, I think on when their election is and who wins). But there's always Wimbledon. Our government won't need to bend the rules (or have palms greased) because we're the poster child for anti mitigations. See you in late June/early July, Novak.

Am I right in thinking that once he has been deported he cannot return to Australia for three years?

So his actions have not only resulted in being removed from this year's Australian Open but potentially the next three years as well.

And hast thou slain the Djokovic?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
He chortled in his joy.

Apologies to Lewis Carroll

@Tealightsandd

He doesn’t need to be popular for Oz to have wanted him to play. He’s defending his title, maybe lots of spectators would have liked to have seen him lose.

[quote Blackbird2020]@Tealightsandd

He doesn’t need to be popular for Oz to have wanted him to play. He’s defending his title, maybe lots of spectators would have liked to have seen him lose.[/quote]
But many Australians were furious about him being let in. They didn't want him playing.

Ok, possibly some would pay to go and boo him - but that's not what the tournament, or tennis is or should be about.

They have plenty of top players there including, if that's their priority, a superstar (Rafa).

I said it just before but it's worth repeating. Rafa Nadal is absolutely right. The tournament, the tennis. It's bigger than one person.

To think otherwise is an insult to all the other players.

I'm not a Novak fan at all but I don't like the idea of not being able to enter a country without the jabs, especially as they don't stop transmission. I'm double jabbed but didn't have a booster as I'm still suffering issues from the initial jabs which I have reported to yellow card. I feel sad that I might never be able to travel to certain countries because of this. The jabs are still in the experimental stage and there have been large numbers of really adverse effects, myself included. I feel like I'm being punished for having issues if vax passports become the norm.

@Tealightsandd

I think you’ve misunderstood me, my original message was regarding why the Oz govt wanted ND to play prior to the uproar

Ah sorry @Blackbird2020

Yes I think you're right. And didn't they get that wrong!

They really should've taken a minute or two to think about how it was going to go down with the public. Particularly with an election coming up.

It does seem like it was an entirely preventable omnishambles - and NoDj must shoulder his share of the blame.

Rafa Nadal is sounding positively magisterial compared to some.

We are all entitled to our choice, but choices have consequences. Novak is old enough to accept that without stamping his feet and shouting 'it isn't fair'.

I'm not a Novak fan at all but I don't like the idea of not being able to enter a country without the jabs, especially as they don't stop transmission @flipflop76
This is not absolutely correct. Vaccination reduces transmission enormously, even if it doesn't stop it completely.

@ajandjjmum

We are all entitled to our choice, but choices have consequences. Novak is old enough to accept that without stamping his feet and shouting 'it isn't fair'.

I'm not a Novak fan at all but I don't like the idea of not being able to enter a country without the jabs, especially as they don't stop transmission @flipflop76
This is not absolutely correct. Vaccination reduces transmission enormously, even if it doesn't stop it completely.

It's amazing how smallpox, polio, diptheria, measles, mumps, rubella, TB, tetanus don't seem to be much of an issue these days, isn't it? It's almost as though scientists know what they're doing with vaccination, instead of believing in a medical diagnosis via the medium of touching a slice of bread

But covid has over 99% survival rate and for those other diseases you don't have to be jabbed 3 times a year. They haven't eradicated flu...

I sometimes wonder whether pointing out to the American anti-vaxxers that they are imitating the Taliban might shame them slightly.