Craig Tiley says he would like to see Novak Djokovic playing Australian Open, claims Tennis Australia always prioritized safety of locals
Craig Tiley, the CEO of Tennis Australia, spoke to 9News Melbourne earlier on Sunday about the overarching controversy surrounding Novak Djokovic's visa revocation.
Nine-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic flew to Melbourne earlier this week with a medical exemption granted to him by Tennis Australia and the Victorian government. But the Serb was not allowed entry by the Australian Border Forces and was subsequently detained at the Park Hotel in Carlton as his exemption couldn't be substantiated. Following this, the federal government revoked his visa.
Novak Djokovic has since appealed the cancelation and a verdict is expected to be passed on Monday. Against that background, Tiley was asked to shed some light on how the situation had spiraled so out of control. But first and foremost, he was asked whether it was still in Tennis Australia's interest for the World No. 1 to play at the Happy Slam.
Considering Djokovic's winning history at the tournament, Tiley's response came as no surprise. He asserted that he wanted the defending champion to play.
"I would like to see Novak Djokovic playing Australian Open," Craig Tiley remarked.
Craig Tiley says that he would like to see Novak Djokovic playing the #AusOpen.
During the interview, the Tennis Australia boss insisted that the organization had done its best to ensure the public would be secure from the threat of COVID-19 transmission throughout the fortnight.
"From the beginning in this journey, we've always stated that what's of absolute priority is the safety of Australians, anyone coming in from overseas," Tiley said. "Actually, during US Open, only 50% of the playing group was vaccinated. Today it's more than 97%, partly due to the efforts we made to get everyone vaccinated."
"There was plenty of conflicting, contradictory information" - Craig Tiley on Novak Djokovic visa fiasco
It should be noted that Novak Djokovic and other unvaccinated players were incorrectly informed by Craig Tiley & Co. that a prior COVID-19 infection was sufficient to gain a medical exemption.
Tennis Australia was later outed for not informing the Victorian government of a federal letter they received months ago, which stated that a prior infection would not be accepted as a reason for an exemption.
When questioned on this cognitive dissonance, Tiley went on the defensive, claiming there had been a lot of "conflicting, contradictory information" since the health protocols were established.
"On the course of this journey, as the introduction to the medical exemption proceeded... there was plenty of conflicting, contradictory information. We constantly were seeking clarity from day one, if we were doing the right thing..." Tiley said.
"All information we had at the time, the knowledge we had at the time, was supplied to players. From the beginning we said, the conditions under which you're assured to come into Australia is to meet the requirements of certain vaccines and to get vaccinated with them."
Wish this interview with Craig Tiley just now had been about five times as long, given his public silence since the Novak Djokovic deportation saga began…but I guess it’s something.
“I would like to see him play the #AusOpen,” Tiley says. https://t.co/a8fxaUbWtx
While Tiley refused to blame anyone for Djokovoc's visa fiasco, he reiterated that Tennis Australia had done a great job.
"I am not gonna blame anyone, all I'm gonna say is we know what we know. We know what we have in front of us, we know we did the best job we could to bring the players in," Tiley said.
The Australian also said Tennis Australia had regularly conferred with the Home Affairs office and the federal government to ensure "we were doing the right thing."
"All I can say is that there is much conflicting information all around. Every week we were talking to home affairs, Australian government to check whether we were doing the right thing. The conflicting, contradictory information you received is because of the changing environment. We all had it." Tiley added.