(Melbourne) The medical exemption granted to Novak Djokovic, silent on his vaccination status, to participate in the Australian Open arouses indignant reactions in the country, where the Prime Minister threatened to return the Serbian “by the first plane If this exemption was not justified.
“We are waiting for his presentation and for him to provide us with evidence to support” this waiver, Scott Morrison said at a press conference. “If that evidence is insufficient, then he will not be treated any differently from anyone else, and he will return home on the first plane.” There will be no special rule for Novak Djokovic. Not the least ”, insisted the Prime Minister.
“It would certainly be useful if Novak explained the conditions under which he requested and obtained an exemption,” Tennis Australia boss Craig Tiley, also director of the first Grand Slam of the year, also told reporters on Wednesday.
“I encourage him to talk to the community about this… We have been going through a very difficult time over the past two years and I would appreciate some responses to that,” he added.
“Not for vaccines”
The Australian tennis boss said, however, that the world number 1 had not received any preferential treatment to obtain this exemption, during a process supervised by the Australian authorities and those of the State of Victoria.
A total of 26 players or members of their staff, out of the 3000 or so expected in Australia, have requested an exemption and only a few of them have obtained it, he revealed. According to Mr. Tiley, the two commissions responsible for examining exemption requests do so without knowing the identity of the applicants.
Already winner of 20 Grand Slams, like Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic is aiming for a 21e record title in Melbourne. The Australian Open, which begins on January 17, are his favorite tournament: it is in Melbourne that the Serbian won his first Grand Slam (2008), and no one has won there as much as him (nine wins). .
For months, “Nole” had cast doubt on his participation in the first Grand Slam of the year, due to the obligation for players to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to enter Australia.
The world number 1 spoke in April 2020 against compulsory vaccination, then considered to allow the resumption of tournaments. “Personally, I am not for vaccines. I would not like someone to force me to be vaccinated to travel, ”he said at the time.
He finally announced Tuesday that he had obtained a medical exemption allowing him to make the trip. Australian regulations provide for this type of exemption in five specific cases (having contracted COVID-19 in the previous six months, serious medical contraindication …) but the federation, citing medical confidentiality, refused to say which applied to Djokovic.
“Spit in the face”
The move sparked an uproar in Australia, where measures put in place to fight COVID-19 have been particularly stringent since the start of the pandemic.
It is a “spit in the face of any inhabitant of the state of Victoria and any Australian,” wrote former tennis player Sam Groth, now a television commentator, in a column published by the daily. Herald sun from Melbourne.
“You mean you have an exemption, but you don’t mean why? It’s disgusting hypocrisy, ”he added.
“I believe that if it was me who was not vaccinated, I would not have obtained an exemption,” also complained for his part the British doubles player Jamie Murray, who is currently participating in the ATP Cup. in Sydney.
And a prominent Australian doctor, Stephen Parnis, blasted on Twitter a “distressing message”: “I don’t care that he is a good tennis player. If he refuses to be vaccinated, he should not be allowed to enter ”.
“If this exemption is true, it sends a distressing message to the millions of people who seek to reduce the risk of COVID-19 in Australia for themselves and for others”, ruled the doctor.