to an immigration detention hotel quite close to the centre of melbourne. he may be brought back here we don t know. what we do know is there was a brief preliminary hearing in court today essentially, it was a procedural matter dealing with administrative items ahead of a full appeal for novak djokovic against the decision by australia s immigration minister, alex hawke, to cancel his visa, and that will take place on sunday morning. so, today, if you like, to use a tennis term, is a bit of a warm up for the main event tomorrow. 0k. but it s going to the wire and the open begins on monday. i mean, is there any chance at all he will play, even if he is allowed to stay, because he has missed out on so much training, hasn t he? well, he was training yesterday. we understand that he trained twice on one of the main arenas at the australian open venue, so we re not quite sure if he ll be allowed to train while this appeal is going on.
the prime minister, scott morrison, said the decision followed careful consideration. mr morrison s government has faced heavy criticism for allowing the unvaccinated player into australia in the first place, while the country struggled with a spike in covid 19 case numbers. i think it was a mess up that they did, but now i think they have corrected the way. it s unfortunate that novak won t be playing the tournament, it s a pretty big loss. yeah, i think if everyone else has to follow the rules, why can t he? obviously he thought he was above it all. novak djokovic has been included in the draw for the tournament as the top seed. he was due to play fellow serbian miomir kecmanovic. now his case is in court again.
level within number 10 for ten years. let s turn to australia. the country s immigration minister has cancelled novak djokovic s visa for a second time, just three days before the world men s tennis number one is due to defend his australian open title in melbourne. the minister, alex hawke, said he d made the decision on the grounds of health and good order , as the row continues about djokovic s right to remain in the country unvaccinated. his lawyers are now trying to stop him being deported. we ll have more from serbia in a moment, and i llspeak to the former australian foreign minister alexander downer, but first shaimaa khalil has the latest from melbourne. twice today, novak djokovic was on the court training. and a few hours later, the government finally announced its decision. the tennis star s visa has been cancelled again, and for the second time he faces deportation from australia. in his statement, the country s immigration minister, alex hawke, said.
the prime minister did apologise for mistakes that have been made. we have an inquiry taking place and we are very clear that there were a real mistakes made. the are very clear that there were a real mistakes made. are very clear that there were a real mistakes made. the head of the government real mistakes made. the head of the government covid-19 real mistakes made. the head of the government covid-19 task real mistakes made. the head of the government covid-19 task force. .. i the former head of the cabinet office covid task force katejosephs apologies for holding a leaving drinks in whitehall when london was in tier 3 restrictions. this latest party will be part of sue gray s investigation. a court in australia orders novak djokovic to be detained from tomorrow morning after the government cancelled his visa for a second time. the welsh government is to ease coronavirus restrictions over next two weeks after a drop in omicron cases. remembering ashling murphy vigils
and coming up: there s another scream in your cinemas find out what mark kermode thinks about the fifth in the movie franchise, and the week s other big releases, in the film review at 5:45. the tennis world is continuing to react to the news today that novak djokovic has had his visa cancelled for the second time ahead of the australian open which starts on monday. the 20 time grand slam champion, who s hoping to break the record there will be back in court in melbourne to appeal the decision. australia s immigration minister alex hawke says it was made on health and good order grounds. andy murray described the saga as not great for tennis. while boris becker, who s coached the serbian, said it was a political game . here s our tennis correspondent russell fuller. for a judge has been pointing out to djokovic s legal team during this hearing that the grounds for appeal against the ministers personnel