tennis star novak djokovic has lost his bid to stay in australia and defend his title in the australian open. he now faces deportation. the hearing was djokovic s last attempt to stay in the country despite having his visa revoked now twice over his covid vaccination status. but the court ultimately sided with australia s immigration minister, who revoked the visa over concerns the unvaccinated star s presence could spur a rise in anti-vaccine sentiment. cnn is covering every angle of this story around the globe. scott mcclain is standing by in belgrade, serbia, with reactions from djokovic s home country. we also have reporters on the ground in australia. we want to go first to our own phil black who s been following all of this from melbourne. the judges a little while ago making that announcement. and i think beyond the actual decision, they really had some interesting things to say about what they were deciding in this case and what they weren t deciding in this case. p
Watching cnn newsroom. more on our breaking news. serbian tennis star novick djokovic faces deportation after losing a last-ditch legal effort to stay in australia. a short time ago, three federal judges upheld the decision by australia s immigration minister to cancel the unvaccinated star s visa over concerns his presence could spur a rise in anti-vaxing sentiment. the decision also ends djokovic s hopes of defending his australian open title and winning a record 21st grand slam. in a statement djokovic says he is extremely disappointed with the court s ruling. he says he ll cooperate with authorities. and he says he hopes the focus is now on tennis. australia s immigration minister welcomed the ruling, saying strong border protection policies have kept the nation safe during this pandemic. just a few moments ago, the australian prime minister released a statement saying, quote, the cancelation decision was made on the health, safety, and good order grounds on the basis that it was
Tennis star novak djokovic has lost his bid to stay in australia and defend his title in the australian open. he now faces deportation. the hearing was djokovic s last attempt to stay in the country despite having his visa revoked now twice over his covid vaccination status. but the court ultimately sided with australia s immigration minister, who revoked the visa over concerns the unvaccinated star s presence could spur a rise in anti-vaccine sentiment. cnn is covering every angle of this story around the globe. scott mcclain is standing by in belgrade, serbia, with reactions from djokovic s home country. we also have reporters on the ground in australia. we want to go first to our own phil black who s been following all of this from melbourne. the judges a little while ago making that announcement. and i think beyond the actual decision, they really had some interesting things to say about what they were deciding in this
Lawyer s office, which is just behind me here. you can see people waiting here for a sign of his departure. from here we would expect that he would presumably go back to the detention center where he slept last night and slept spent a few days in the previous week as well in central melbourne. as arrangements are made to facilitate his departure from the country. so he says he s going to cooperate wither on fishes here. that means they will work to get him on a flight that is convenient for him that will return him either to his point of departure, spain, or probably his homeland, serbia, one or the other. we ll wait to see how quickly that can happen. djokovic has now accepted after such a long saga, such a long legal battle, really showing you would have to say incredible determination to try and take part in this australian open. he now accepts that that cannot
Case and what they weren t deciding in this case. paula, a little over an hour ago novak djokovic and everyone else around the world watching closely discovered his application to the court to overturn the cancelation of his visa was unsuccessful. the judges, before making that point, said that they weren t it wasn t their job to essentially rule on the merits of the original decision, it was just they were asked to review that decision based upon particular legal grounds that had been submitted by djokovic s lawyers. and as it turns out, those arguments, those grounds put forward by his lawyers, did not persuade any of the judges sitting at the bench to hear this case. it was a unanimous decision. his application was dismissed. as i say, a little over an hour ago, but we already have a statement from novak djokovic that came through a few moments ago. we can look at some of the key points in which he says that, off the top he s going to take