Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley said that he has "a great deal of confidence in the Australian public" that Novak Djokovic would be welcomed back to the country nearly a year after the Serb was deported from Australia for not being vaccinated against COVID-19. Djokovic arrived in Australia on Tuesday (December 27), ahead of his bid for a 10th men's singles title at next month's Australian Open.
The Emirates plane carrying Djokovic touched down after a 13 1/2-hour flight from Melbourne, where he had argued in court he should be allowed to stay in the country.
World number one Novak Djokovic's new calendar year hasn't begun on the right note. The Serbian landed in Melbourne last week to take part in the Australian Open along with a medical exemption for Covid-19 vaccination, from the Victorian government. However, his visa wasn't cleared and his exemption was tarnished by the authorities at the airport as the 34-year-old was send to a detention centre, i.e. an immigration hotel in Melbourne, for four days.