After Novak Djokovic, Renata Voracova has her Australian visa canceled too
On Thursday morning, Novak Djokovic's visa was canceled by the Australian Border Force officials after they concluded there wasn't enough evidence to justify his vaccine exemption. Now, Czech player Renata Voracova has suffered a similar fate; the 38-year-old's visa was canceled by the Australian authorities on Friday.
Voracova arrived in Australia for the Melbourne Summer Set after getting a medical exemption from Tennis Australia. But a day after Djokovic's detainment, which was accompanied by questions from the public about other players who were allowed into the country on similar exemptions, Voracova was detained too.
Voracova is currently being held at the Park Hotel in Carlton, the same facility World No. 1 Novak Djokovic is presently at.
The Czech Foreign Ministry confirmed that Voracova has decided not to appeal her visa cancelation and will leave Australia due to "limited possibilities for training."
"We can confirm that Czech tennis player Renata Voráčová is in the same detention as Djokovic, together with several other players. We submitted through our embassy in Canberra a protest note and are asking for an explanation of the situation. However, Renata Voracova decided to drop out of the tournament due to limited possibilities for training and to leave Australia."
Australian Border Force cancels tennis player Renata Voracova's visa ahead of Australian Open abc.net.au/news/2022-01-0…
Voracova competed in the women's doubles at the Melbourne Summer Set 2, partnering Poland's Katarzyna Piter. However, the duo were eliminated in the first round of the tournament after losing to the Dutch-Australian pair of Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove and Arina Rodionova.
Reports suggest that both Djokovic and Voracova were granted the vaccine exemption on the grounds that they had tested positive for COVID-19 in the previous six months. However, there has been no official confirmation to that effect.
The circumstances around Novak Djokovic's visa cancelation ahead of the Australian Open
Things were looking rosy for Novak Djokovic after he announced on social media that he had received a medical exemption to compete at the Australian Open.
However, he was denied entry into the country after Border Force officials deemed his medical exemption unsatisfactory. Apparently, Djokovic's team had applied for the wrong visa.
Djokovic was told to return to Serbia but his legal team will appeal the decision. Many have voiced their opinion regarding the treatment meted out to Djokovic, with a number of players and athletes coming out in support of the Serb.
While the situation looks dire for the World No. 1, he has not ruled out the possibility of playing at the Australian Open.
If Djokovic does not participate at the Major, there is a chance he could lose his No. 1 ranking to Daniil Medvedev or Alexander Zverev - assuming one of them wins the Australian Open.