It would have been better for Novak Djokovic, tennis and the government if the Serb had never flown to Melbourne: Jim Courier
Four-time Major champion Jim Courier believes everyone involved in the Novak Djokovic deportation saga would have been better off if the Serb had not traveled to Australia. The nine-time Australian Open winner was deported from the country ahead of the Melbourne Grand Slam following a fortnight of controversy over his visa and vaccine status.
The World No. 1 arrived in Melbourne on 6 January with an "exemption permission," but was detained at the airport and his visa revoked. He won a court case on 10 January to quash the initial ruling for his travel visa to be canceled by the Australian Border Force (ABF).
But Djokovic was forced to leave Australia after Immigration Minister Alex Hawke's decision to revoke his visa for a second time, on "health and good order" grounds, was upheld in court on Sunday. The 34-year-old arrived in Belgrade on Monday following his deportation.
Novak Djokovic arrives in Serbia after deportation from Australia theglobeandmail.com/sports/video-n… https://t.co/drDAy0EVDG
Speaking to Channel Nine’s Wide World of Sport, Courier declared he expects more information on Djokovic's situation to come to light and questioned how the Serb's paperwork was approved at Dubai airport.
"I think there’s still cards to fall, as to finding out a little bit more, the details of which part of the government knew what," Courier said. "And how in the heck is he in the airport in Dubai and they approve his paperwork? I was in the airport in (Los Angeles), I had stacks of paper this deep to get in, and I’m fully vaccinated."
The American then asserted that none of the parties involved in the fiasco have benefitted from it.
"There’s obviously been some errors made here but ultimately, everyone that’s involved in this has lost," Courier added. "Everyone. It would have been so much better if Novak had never come here for him, for sure, for tennis and for the government, frankly. It’s just not been a pretty story."
"I hated the exemption that Novak Djokovic had" - Darren Cahill
Respected tennis coach and former player Darren Cahill also gave his thoughts on the Novak Djokovic saga to Channel Nine’s Wide World of Sport. The Australian criticized the fact the 20-time Major winner received an exemption intended to be for those who wanted to have a COVID-19 vaccine, but could not.
"It’s been a cloud hanging over the players," Cahill said. "I hated the exemption that he had, because I think that exemption is really for people who wish to get vaccinated and they can’t get vaccinated because they’ve contracted COVID. If you have an acute medical illness or something that holds you back from getting it, no problem, but I didn’t like the whole thing from the start. It was a mess from the start and then it just got worse and worse."
Cahill, who has coached Andre Agassi, Lleyton Hewitt and Simona Halep, is currently working with 20-year-old American Amanda Anisimova. Since adding Cahill to her team, Anisimova has won the WTA Melbourne Summer Set 2 title and reached the third round of the Australian Open, where she will face defending champion Naomi Osaka.
Anisimova on Osaka: "I like her game a lot. I like watching her play. I think our personalities are a little bit similar in terms of composure and trying to be the quiet players on tour.
"I'm also a pretty aggressive player, so I just want to see how our games will match up."
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