Djokovic case: Detained pending hearing

First his visa was withdrawn, now he has to be in custody: tennis star Djokovic is no longer allowed to leave his hotel in Melbourne from Saturday. Australia’s federal court will decide on Sunday whether he can stay in the country.

The Novak Djokovic case is entering the next round: the tennis player will be arrested again in Australia from Saturday. A court ruled that he could only leave the hotel where he was staying to talk to his lawyers and attend a possible court hearing. The judge responsible decided that Djokovic should not be deported for the time being.

The lawyers of the world number one want to ensure that the 34-year-old is allowed to stay in the country and can take part in the Australian Open from Monday. Hearings at the immigration authorities and the federal court are therefore scheduled for Djokovic on Saturday. A decision is expected after another appointment on Sunday.

Lawyers objected

The unvaccinated Djokovic’s visa had previously been invalidated a second time in a personal decision by Immigration Secretary Alex Hawke. This was well justified and “in the public interest,” the minister said. He didn’t want to make any mistakes and carefully checked all the facts, his office wrote.

Djokovic’s lawyers then announced an objection. Although they had to accept that their client had to be in custody after the immigration minister’s decision, they at least reached the hearings in the federal court. So it’s not completely out of the question that the best tennis player in the world will play at the Australian Open from Monday – but it’s extremely unlikely.

Djokovic is a self-confessed vaccination skeptic and, in his own words, has not been vaccinated against the corona virus. He had traveled to the Australian Open, although participants there must present a full corona vaccination or a medical exemption.

Contradictions in the case of alleged Covid disease

After his arrival in Melbourne last week, there were inconsistencies: there were contradictions in the allegedly overcome Covid disease, which he gave as the reason for entering the country without vaccination, and the suspicion of manipulation of his allegedly positive PCR test. Or the entry form that was filled out incorrectly: it asks whether he has traveled in the past two weeks – and Djokovic ticked “no”.

The tennis pro, who lives in Monaco, played both in Spain and in his home country Serbia during this time.

With information from Holger Senzel, ARD Studio Singapore