(Melbourne) Novak Djokovic intends to play at the Australian Open in 2023, tournament director Craig Tiley assured Sunday, believing that the fiasco which led to the expulsion of the world No.1 this year was due to “miscommunication”.
Posted at 11:27 p.m.
Asked by the Australian public channel ABC whether the world No.1, not vaccinated against COVID-19, intended to return next year to play the tournament despite the events of this year, Mr. Tiley replied, “yes […] that will be his intention”.
“At the end of the day, he’s the world No.1 and he really likes the Australian Open,” added Mr Tiley.
The Premier of the state of Victoria, of which Melbourne is the capital, however insisted that Djokovic would only be allowed to play if he was vaccinated.
“Rafael [Nadal] is right. We could have avoided this whole thing if he had simply been vaccinated. This person feels they are more important than the tournament, but they are not,” Daniel Andrews told reporters.
Djokovic has won the Australian Major nine times (record) and he was aiming for a 10and title this year which would have allowed him to bring to 21 the record of Grand Slam titles that he co-holds for the moment with Rafael Nadal (who was playing his 8and final on Sunday) and Roger Federer (absent).
For Tiley, it was “constantly changing conditions” and “poor communication” with the federal government that led to Djokovic’s expulsion the day before the start of the tournament when he had initially received a waiver signed by the Chief Medical Officer of the Australian Tennis Federation (TA) to enter Australia unvaccinated.
Mr Tiley, who is also the chairman of TA, said his body had worked with national authorities, but that due to the evolving nature of the Omicron variant, “there had been a lot of contradictions and complexity in the information received.
“Even in the past week [depuis la décision de justice sur l’expulsion de Djokovic], things have changed with regard to the measures taken in the face of the pandemic”, he underlined.
To obtain this waiver, the Serb argued that he had contracted COVID-19 within six months of arriving in Australia. But after ten days of legal proceedings and a few days spent in a detention center, Djokovic was expelled.
Does the Australian Federation expect a lawsuit brought by the player for reimbursement of his legal and travel expenses? “No,” replied Mr. Tiley.