tennis star. reporter: novak djokovic is training every day on center court defiantly implying he ll still be here when the australian open begins. for now, the tournament s organizers have to assume he will be, too. we start with our number one seed for the tournament novak djokovic on line number one. reporter: the competition draw has lined up djokovic to play a fellow serb in the opening round but will it happen? the australian prime minister s position, don t ask me. these are personal ministerial powers able to be exercised by minister hawk and i don t make any further comment at this time. reporter: the immigration minister alex hawk says he is considering using his personal power to cancel djokovic s visa. he has been considering it all week. ever since a judge freed djokovic from immigration detention and restored his visa ruling the unvaccinated player was treated unfairly by border officials. it was about process. the court went down the path of
process, but the facts remain the same. so he still has, the minister still has the discretion to ask him to leave. and i ll leave it up to the minister as to whether he does that or not. government leaders are ducking questions on this because the political stakes are high. a decision to cancel the visa once more must stand up under immigration law. get it wrong and djokovic could successfully appeal again. humiliating the government in the courtroom and every time he appears on center court. for a government that prides itself on border security this is not a good look especially with an election coming up. my gosh. if this is what the election is fought on australians have missed a whole range of other issues. reporter: the government knows there is little public sympathy for novak djokovic but the clock is ticking. failing to act before the australian open begins could
escalate the saga and inflict a significant political cost. jake, it is now friday morning here in melbourne. that means including the weekend there are only three days before the start of play in the australian open. so this is really turning into a time crunch especially for novak djokovic because even if the government moves to deport him pretty swiftly today, it is increasingly difficult to see how he can successfully challenge that in court and then still be clear in a position and ready to start playing for the title early next week. phil black in melbourne, thank you so much. appreciate it. for months we ve been hearing people who downplay or lie about the insurrection defend their claims by saying, well, how come nobody has been charged with sedition or insurrection? well, here are the charges. breaking news out of the justice department, next. yes to new inventions! yes to clean and fresh ingredients! and yes to living life to the flavor-fullest.
or mix and match data options. available now for comcast business internet customers with no line-activation fees or term contract required. see if you can save by switching today. comcast business. powering possibilities. in our sports lead today, novak djokovic is, quote, playing by his own rules. that from the number four tennis player in the world the unvaccinated nine-time australian open champ hit the practice court today after being picked as the tournament s number one seed as a seemingly never ending volley between the australian government and djokovic continues over his visa status and lying on official documents as cnn s phil black reports for us now australians are wondering if this is about more than one unvaccinated