Aussie unban Djokovic free to play in Australian Open 

Tennis superstar Novak Djokovic will be able to compete at January’s Australian Open after his three-year visa ban was overturned by the government.

Despite remaining unvaccinated against Covid-19, the 21-times grand slam champion from Serbia has been permitted to enter Australia for a return to grand-slam action in January. This follows several months of negotiations between his lawyers and the Australian authorities.

Djokovic, 35, was deported on the eve of this year’s tournament after the government cancelled his visa on “health and good order” grounds, amid concerns over his ability to incite “antivax sentiment”. This automatically came with an entry ban until 2025, although there were certain “compelling circumstances” in which this could be waived.

Details of the reasoning behind the Australian government’s decision have not yet been revealed but it is believed that the change of federal leadership earlier this year played a major part. Anthony Albanese, who replaced Scott Morrison as prime minister in May after the Labor Party defeated the incumbent Liberal-National Coalition government in the federal election, is a tennis fan and was more sympathetic of Djokovic’s case than his predecessor.

There is also no longer any requirement for overseas residents to be vaccinated before entering Australia. Until July this year, all declarations prior to travel required evidence that an individual had received at least two jabs against Covid-19.

News of the decision was leaked to the Australian media on Tuesday. Only hours before, Djokovic had said that there was still no outcome.

“Nothing official yet,” Djokovic told reporters after winning his opening match at the ATP Finals in Turin. “We are waiting. They [his lawyers] are communicating with the government of Australia. That’s all I can tell you for now.

The Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley had also claimed that he was unaware this morning, telling the Australian Associated Press that he was not involved in the decision-making process.

“I don’t think there should be any preferential treatment for anyone,” Tiley said. “That’s entirely up to the Australian government.

“I know Novak wants to come and play and to get back to competing. He loves Australia and it’s where he’s had the best success but the timing [of an announcement] is up to somebody else and we’ll just play that one by ear.”

Djokovic’s refusal to be vaccinated also saw him miss this year’s US Open and an additional four Masters tournaments in America. After being ranked No 1 in the world at the start of this season, he now sits at No 8 after being denied the opportunity to earn up to 8,000 ranking points. He also missed out on 2,000 points for winning Wimbledon after the ATP’s decision to remove ranking points from the championships because of the ban of players from Russia and Belarus.