to remove his visa overturned. a federal court upheld the decision to cancel his visa on the grounds that the world men s number one s refusal to be vaccinated against covid made him a threat to public health. the serbian prime minster accused australia of a witch hunt. mr djokovic s family say they are very disappointed by the ruling, claiming the decision was not about sport, but politics. from melbourne, shaimaa khalil has the latest. for days, he s been fighting to stay in australia. but novak djokovic has finally conceded he has to go after three judges upheld the government s decision to cancel his visa. the amended application. the immigration minister had argued that the unvaccinated tennis star s presence here could bolster anti vaccination sentiment, with the government s lawyer describing him as an icon for anti vaxx communities. in his statement, the world number one said.
process would do its work for novak djokovic. well, we know that it hasn t and he has now been deported. so i asked president aleksandar vucic for his initial reaction to what had happened in australia. i m not. as a president, i m not an anti vaxxer. i was three times vaccinated. three shots. it s not about that. if you wanted to put principles in front of everything, you should have said ok, non vaccinated people cannot enter the territory of australia. but you didn t say so. you were saying medical exemptions and medical exemptions. and he came there with medical exemption proposal. and then you were mistreating him for ten days. why did you do it? and then doing that witches hunt campaign against him. and that is something that no one can understand. and my response to australian people is that we are going to host in the very best way their athletes. and they are going to come to our country within a month
outside the court, many of his fans were still in shock, and emotions were high. it s disgraceful. how was his first visa. . . 7 how did the first court ruling rule in his favour, but now it ruled against him? why? novak came here to play tennis. i can t understand what kind of threat novak to this country. and serbia s president was even more indignant. he came there with a medical exemption proposal, and then you were mistreating him for ten days. why did you do it? and then doing that witches hunt campaign against him? that is something that no one can understand. this was a high stakes court battle for both sides. the government has been publicly embarrassed by its mishandling of the controversy. everything s been so close to the wire with this case. we re less than 2a hours away from the australian open.
this is bbc news. i m martine croxall. the headlines at four. novak djokovic has been deported from australia, afterjudges rejected the unvaccinated tennis star s appeal to stay in the country on public health grounds. there s dismay from supporters mr djokovic s family say they are very disappointed with the decision and what they have called scandalous behaviour from authorities. labour leader sir keir starmer says borisjohnson broke the law and should resign, over a series of parties at downing street during coronavirus restrictions. the conservative party chairman, oliver dowden, says the culture in downing street must be addressed. i think the facts speak for themselves. i think the prime minister broke the law, i think he then lied about what had happened. people feel angry about what s been going on in downing street,
despite the scandalous behaviour towards novak, we always believed that sport would win. the sport confirmed that he had a valid visa but in the end it didn t work out for him. they say these are difficult times for it novak. we will support him as his family to regain his faith in sport and fair play, which was completely absent here. he is a great champion and a great man. so that is the official family statement. we have also heard lines in serbia from novak s father. he said, this was an assassination attempt on the best sportsman in the world, with 50 bullets to novak s chest. once again being a little less measured than the official family statement. less measured than the official family statement. yes, it is quite a stron: family statement. yes, it is quite a strong resnonse. family statement. yes, it is quite a strong response, isn t family statement. yes, it is quite a strong response, isn t it? - family statement. yes, it is quite a strong response, isn t it? thank.