A three-member court panel of the Federal Court of Australia made the final decision, confirming the decision of the immigration minister to revoke Novak Djokovic’s visa to stay in Australia.
The world number one is thus prevented from participating in the first Grand Slam of the Australian Open season, which starts on Monday, 17 January, where Novak is record holder in the number of titles won.
At the hearing, the prosecutor claimed that the Serbian tennis player’ presence in Australia could cause the strengthening of the activities of anti-vaccination groups, and him becoming an icon of the free choice.
On the other side, Djokovic’s legal team tried to challenge the claims of the opposing side, stating that the Australian Minister of Immigration made the decision to cancel Novak Djokovic’s visa in a biased and unfounded manner.
Novak Djokovic issued a short statement after the decision of the Federal Court of Australia to confirm the revocation of his visa, in which he commented on the results of today’s hearing, emphasizing that he was very disappointed with the decision but respected the court’s decision and would cooperate with the Australian authorities.
“I’d like to make a brief statement to address the outcomes of today’s Court hearing. I will now be taking some time to rest and to recuperate, before making any further comments beyond this,” Novak said in a statement.
“I am extremely disappointed with the ruling to dismiss my application for judicial review of the decision to cancel my visa, which means I cannot stay in Australia and participate in the Australian Open”.
“I respect the Court’s ruling and I’ll co-operate with the relevant authorities in relation to my departure from the country.”
“I am uncomfortable that the focus of the past weeks has been on me and I hope that we can all now focus on the game and tournament I love. I would like to wish the players, tournament officials, staff, volunteers and fans all the best for the tournament.”
“Finally I would like to thank my family, friends, team, supporters, fans and my fellow Serbians for your continued support. You have all been a great source of strength to me.”
Among tennis players, he received the biggest support from Nick Kyrgios, Tennys Sandgren, John Ishner, Vasek Pospisil, Sergei Stakhovsky, Aliza Cornet, Venus Williams, as well as other other public figures, such as Tom Brady, Vladimir Grbic, Jordan Peterson, Jim Kwik.
Photo: Novak Djokovic facebook / djokovicofficial