The Australian Open will finally begin, on the night of Sunday to Monday January 17. But for the followers as for the players, the “Djokovic affair” and its recent outcome occupy the discussions, rather than the first round of the tournament.
Very quickly after the announcement of the Australian justice and while the one who is now nicknamed “Novax Djokovic” himself reacted, saying to himself “extremely disappointed” after the confirmation of the suspension of his visa, it was the other players on the circuit who went there with their comments. Mainly to support the Serb and regret his absence.
Since the beginning of the case, the circuit appeared divided on the situation of Djokovic. Rafael Nadal, for example, said to himself “disagree with a lot of things he’s done in the past two weeks“. “Jand also think it’s not up to the tennis players, it’s up to the government to decide how Australia is going to handle this.” had estimated, as for it, the Japanese Naomi Osaka, before the verdict of the Australian justice is not returned.
First to react, Nick Kyrgios, something rather rare for him, was measured in his reaction. A simple emoji of a person holding their head in their hands. Already the day before, the Australian had spoken in defense of the “Djoker”. “IHe’s here to play tennis! I want him to win the Australian Open, had notably claimed the Australian in an interview. I want to walk around Melbourne Park with my “Idemo” t-shirt and my Novak mask”.
Briton Andy Murray, close to the Serb, regrets the absence of the world No. 1: “It’s not good for the tournament because it would be better if all the best players could participate, he said on the BBC. I’ve known Novak since we were 12, he’s someone I respect and have played against. I don’t like that he finds himself in this situation and I don’t like the fact that he was taken into custody. I hope this will not happen again for other tournaments. I didn’t wish that on Novak or tennis and I hope it’s over now“.
Alizé Cornet pointed to the players’ lack of support for the Serb, “always the first to represent the players”.
I know too little to judge the situation.
What I know is that Novak is always the first one to stand for the players. But none of us stood for him.
Be strong @DjokerNole— Alize Cornet (@alizecornet) January 16, 2022
Co-founder of the Association of Professional Tennis Players (PTPA) with Novak Djokovic, Vasek Pospisil denounced “a political agenda at stake here with the upcoming elections that couldn’t be more evident”. The Canadian swears that his counterpart would never have gone to Australia if the legal authorization had not been given to him. which would have avoided the “mess” which he is talking about.
The same word is used by Patrick Mouratoglou. The famous trainer believes that “The big loser in this mess is the tournament. The only good news is that we will hopefully start talking about tennis”.
Novak would never have gone to Australia if he had not been given an exemption to enter the country by the government (which he did receive; hence Judge Kelly’s initial ruling). He would have skipped the Australian Open and been home with his family and no one would be.. [1/2]
— Vasek Pospisil (@VasekPospisil) January 16, 2022
Precisely, the media-judicial case having passed, the hour of tennis, with small yellow balls and rackets, has arrived. The first should start overnight from Sunday to Monday. Gaël Monfils, Adrian Mannarino and Rafael Nadal are notably on the program, as is the 100% French duel between Corentin Moutet and Lucas Pouille.