Djokovic gets medical exemption while Indian teen denied entry to Aus Open.

[CaliforniaDrumming]

Vaccine inequity in operation. Novak Djokovic gets a medical exemption from being vaxxed for the Australian Open, while a 17-yr-old Indian player is denied entry because India has not begun vaccinating the under 18.

gulfnews.com/sport/tennis/australian-open-indian-tennis-teen-slams-double-standards-on-djokovic-1.84772010

Quite a few footballers and other athletes have suffered myocarditis and collapsed after being vaccinated so it is understandable that a top athlete is reluctant.

Really? Who?

@WowIlikereallyhateyou

Loathsome individual on many levels.

How do you mean?

Both should be allowed to compete. What a terrible world we are heading blindly towards.

@Aishah231

Both should be allowed to compete. What a terrible world we are heading blindly towards.

I don't understand your post at all.

NOONE should be allowed entry into a third country when they can't comply with their laws.

Thousands of people every year are refused entry into Australia, orother countries, because their visa (legal requirements) is not aligned with the paperwork necessary to allow them entry. This is not new. It's what's been happening for years in airports around the world.

The Covid pandemic has simply put another lawyer of legal requirements, that's all. It's up to the people wanting to travel to a foreign country to make sure they have the documentation ready.

If you want to visit the US you better make sure your documentation is ready for the US Customs and Border security to let you in. Why would you think is different in Australia?

Arrogant man who is anti vaccine who has had covid and seems to think it ok to travel oversees. I hope Australia deports him.

Both, who?

@milkyaqua

Both, who?

Both players referenced in the thread title i would imagine.

With the strength of feeling against him, it might not be wise for him to compete if he does receive permission to stay. I can't imaginer his welcome onto the courts will be warm and he'd have to be incredibly mentally strong to not let all this alter the way he plays.

Oh, right, thanks!

I think the Australian government’s measures are just as wrong as Djokovic’s views on covid. They are now having a tennis tournament without the world no.1 tennis player. A situation created by equally ridiculous stances on both sides

There would be uproar. I personally wouldn't have a problem with him coming and quarantining like last year, but I do not accept that people like him should have special treatment

Hang on - similar happened last year???

So there is a precedent for how those unvaccinated can still participate? I mean, it'll favour rich players, but at least there is a way

Countries who have decided to depend on their borders to keep the disease out (something which attracted a lot of praise on MN whilst NZ was doing it and which Aus has done to a certain extent) are in a bind when there's a new and highly transmissible variant floating round the rest of the globe

*I agree - people are pissed off. This the most democratic autocracy on the planet.

We have been locked up in our states for FAR too long. Logic does not prevail. It is no wonder we are angry.*

I totally agree and have to say I have been shocked to the core by the way Australians have been treated by their government and you have my absolute sympathy. I totally get why Australians are pissed off that the rules aren't being fairly applied when it comes to Djokovic but I would be reserving my anger and energy for the people who'd locked me up and treated me like a prisoner in my own country in the first place. By insisting everyone conforms to such illogical madness (if he's tested negative and quaratined then what's the issue?) it's almost like people are condoning it. This kind of overreach by government will only stop when we all stick together, not when we let them divide us.

@Grida

I think the Australian government’s measures are just as wrong as Djokovic’s views on covid. They are now having a tennis tournament without the world no.1 tennis player. A situation created by equally ridiculous stances on both sides

Happens all the time - people get ill/injured etc. No biggie

@Grida

I think the Australian government’s measures are just as wrong as Djokovic’s views on covid. They are now having a tennis tournament without the world no.1 tennis player. A situation created by equally ridiculous stances on both sides

I say this as a massive tennis fan - there is more to life than tennis.

Then Australian government's problem here was bending their rules in the first place to allow him in simply due to the fact he is the number 1 player in the world without giving thought to how their own citizens would feel about that. Plenty examples on this thread alone of people saying they have not been able to visit dying relatives etc due to the rules and travel restrictions but someone can circumnavigate the rules to play tennis? It was wrong of the government to attempt to allow him to play if he didn't meet the counties entry requirements.

Djokovic should have perhaps not played it up on social media - which was essentially saying "look at me, I'm so special rules don't apply" which has also backfired on him.

Wow this kicked off. I believe Novaxx plans to appeal. Hope he doesn't get in. Nadal has commented now:)

@AuntieStella

There would be uproar. I personally wouldn't have a problem with him coming and quarantining like last year, but I do not accept that people like him should have special treatment

Hang on - similar happened last year???

So there is a precedent for how those unvaccinated can still participate? I mean, it'll favour rich players, but at least there is a way

Countries who have decided to depend on their borders to keep the disease out (something which attracted a lot of praise on MN whilst NZ was doing it and which Aus has done to a certain extent) are in a bind when there's a new and highly transmissible variant floating round the rest of the globe

Yes last year, before we had the chance to get vaccinated, the Aus Open went ahead. The players had to quarantine for 14 days and have a negative PCR on day 11 prior to entering the community, just as any returning Australian had to.

You are in the minority @derxa - he’s an arrogant arsehole. Not just over covid. I’ve hated him for years. He’s such a twat, the epitome of an entitled knob.

Don’t let us down now Australia..

@derxa

I love Djokovic. He doesn't want this bloody poison put in his arm

And that is absolutely his choice to make. However that does mean that there will be certain countries that he cannot visit as a result of that.

Generally I disagree with vaccine mandates however I don't think you can try and circumnavigate other countries rules. You have the choice not to go if you disagree.

@derxa

I love Djokovic. He doesn't want this bloody poison put in his arm

Oh wow 😂

@Bobholll

You are in the minority *@derxa* - he’s an arrogant arsehole. Not just over covid. I’ve hated him for years. He’s such a twat, the epitome of an entitled knob.

Don’t let us down now Australia..

Yep. This. Of the best 4 players of his generation (federer, nadal and murray being the other three) he is by far and away the most unpopular. Which he hates! 😁 he really is a tosser.

@CaliforniaDrumming

Wow this kicked off. I believe Novaxx plans to appeal. Hope he doesn't get in. Nadal has commented now:)

I love Nadal, he's genuinely a nice bloke like Federer.

Nadal...

"“I think if he wanted, he would be playing here in Australia [at the Australian Open] without a problem,”

“He made his own decisions, and everybody is free to take their own decisions, but then there are some consequences."

“Of course I don’t like the situation that is happening. In some way I feel sorry for him. But at the same time, he knew the conditions since a lot of months ago, so he makes his own decisions.”

“It’s normal that the people here in Australia get very frustrated with the case, because they have been going through a lot of very hard lockdowns, a lot of people were not able to come back home.”

He backed the role of science and medicine. “After a lot of people have been dying for two years my feeling is with the vaccine, [it’s] the only way to stop this pandemic."

Nadal, with many other athletes in Spain was one of the faces to be in TV ads supporting vaccination. No wonder he's been upfront about it all.

If Djokovic really wanted to make a stand against vaccination, he would have loudly boycotted the event. Same as sportspeople have done for decades when they want to stand up for their beliefs. Not try and bend the system and pretend to be exempt. That's just being deceitful and gutless.

@derxa

I love Djokovic. He doesn't want this bloody poison put in his arm

Oh, well. If you say so. (Get help!)

Meanwhile, he's made his choice. He knew the rules. As someone said elsewhere:
"The Australian Closed for u bruh."