Australian Immigration Minister has made a call on Novak Djokovic's visa situation. Photo / AP
The decision to send Novak Djokovic home has sparked a huge reaction from people across the globe following the hotly anticipated announcement on Friday afternoon.
Australian Immigration Minister Alex Hawke made the decision just before 6pm AEDT, cancelling the nine-time Australian Open champion's visa "on health and good order grounds".
He claimed it was "in the public interest to do so".
"Today I exercised my power under section 133C (3) of the Migration Act to cancel the visa held by Mr Novak Djokovic on health and good order grounds, on the basis that it was in the public interest to do so," a statement attributed to the Immigration Minister read.
"This decision followed orders by the Federal Circuit and Family Court on 10 January 2022, quashing a prior cancellation decision on procedural fairness grounds.
"In making this decision, I carefully considered information provided to me by the Department of Home Affairs, the Australian Border Force and Mr Djokovic."
However, during a hastily scheduled late-night hearing in the Federal Circuit Court on Friday, Judge Anthony Kelly ordered that the federal government not take any steps to remove Djokovic from Australia before an appeal from the tennis star is resolved.
Djokovic admitted to incorrectly filling out his Australian Travel Declaration form when he ticked a box saying he had not travelled in the 14 days before flying to Australia, despite proof he had gone from Serbia to Spain in the two weeks before departing for Melbourne.
However, the world No 1 said his agent filled the form out for him.
"This was a human error and certainly not deliberate," he said, blaming "challenging times in a global pandemic" for the mistake.
Everyone from newsreaders, politicians, tennis commentators and local barflies have weighed in on what has become a major international story over the past week.
Veteran tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg said the saga may not be over yet, with Djokovic still appealing. Djokovic also faces a potential three-year ban from re-entering the country, but has not yet been removed from the 2022 tournament draw.
"We wait to see if, when, and how Djokovic might appeal this decision. We also await clarity on if Australia would seek to enforce the three-year ban from re-entering the country that can accompany such a deportation order. Djokovic has not yet been removed from #AusOpen draw," he tweeted.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison briefly commented on the decision but refrained from adding more "due to the expected ongoing legal proceedings".
"Australians have made many sacrifices during this pandemic, and they rightly expect the result of those sacrifices to be protected," he said Friday evening.
"This is what the Minister is doing in taking this action today. Our strong border protection policies have kept Australians safe, prior to Covid and now during the pandemic."
Tweets kept rolling in from around the globe as the world woke to the news.
Whatever you think of @DjokerNole & his actions (& he definitely has things to explain) this is starting to get really nasty, on a human level.
— Michael Burgess (@mikeburgess99) January 14, 2022
It's bringing out the worst of us, on social media & beyond & going way too far.
He deserves more respect than that.@AustralianOpen
No. Not at all. Fault lies everywhere here. It's been a mess. Novak, TA, Vic Gov, Federal Gov. It should've been a hard rule entering this country considering what the folks have been thru. Get vaccinated and come play the AO, or if not maybe see you in 23'. No wiggle room https://t.co/CzabtLGnMW
— Darren Cahill (@darren_cahill) January 14, 2022
Toxic Shame on each and everyone involved in this process… pic.twitter.com/dReFRs4Dpl
— Janko Tipsarevic (@TipsarevicJanko) January 14, 2022
Cancelling #Djokovic's visa again exposes the Kafkaesque nature of Australia's immigration regime.
— Elaine Pearson (@PearsonElaine) January 14, 2022
Minister claims it is in the "public interest" when it conveniently serves a political purpose.
Meanwhile 32 refugees & asylum seekers remain detained in Park Hotel. pic.twitter.com/FPraAsWf99
Right decision to deport Djokovic IMO but process should never have taken this long. How on earth he was granted a medical exemption in the first place! #AO2022
— Matt Brown (@chahuahua) January 14, 2022
KARMA—Djokovic just had his visa revoked for a 2nd time. Australia’s immigration minister said he was canceling Djokovic’s visa after a federal investigation had revealed that Djokovic provided false information to border officials. 🤦🏻♂️Just #vaccinate man. https://t.co/sbFABCLUsF
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) January 14, 2022
Djokovic wants special treatment… maybe a miracle…should’ve joined Hillsong.
— John Hewson (@JohnRHewson) January 14, 2022
What a surprise! Morrison’s govt cancels #Djokovic’s visa to win the weekend media cycle—showing us all how hairy chested he is. Why on earth did they issue the visa in the first place? One big political distraction from empty shelves & the national shortage of boosters & RATs. https://t.co/SoHuI1Cfwe
— Office of Kevin Rudd, 26th PM of Australia (@MrKRudd) January 14, 2022
Djokovic makes it easy, but cooing over the prospect of a showy public deportation is a bit weird. Not great times for the people in those detention hostels
— Barney Ronay (@barneyronay) January 14, 2022
Novak Djokovic visa cancelled. The circus continues. Embarrassing all round.
— Adriano Del Monte (@adriandelmonte) January 14, 2022
Opinions on his visa cancellation varied wildly, from people believing his attempt to enter Australia posed a genuine health risk to a nation with hundreds of thousands of active cases, to others who believed his cancellation was an indictment of justice and set a dangerous precedent for travellers entry to the country based on a personal medical decision.
Not sure why people are questioning why it took so long to cancel Djokovic's visa.
— Sally McManus (@sallymcmanus) January 14, 2022
The Govt was waiting for advice and my understanding is it would take at least four days for focus groups to be completed#ScottyFromMarketing
People in Djokovic's situation routinely linger for months or years without any judicial attention or concern. Regardless of one's views of his situation, there's something a bit repellent about watching such quick, careful and attentive action in this one case given who he is. https://t.co/2Vui6pIvWU
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 14, 2022
.@DjokerNole just get out of there. Covid is surging in the country. The @AustralianOpen is likely to see an outbreak and you don’t want to be the one blamed. It’s likely many players will have to forfeit to enter quarantine anyway. Just bail.
— Kim Iversen 🇺🇸 (@KimIversenShow) January 14, 2022
Once again, former UK politician Nigel Farage weighed in, strongly criticising the government's move and labelling Australia a "banana republic".
"Australia really is a banana republic. Djokovic deported on the grounds of public health, as if the unvaccinated are lepers. This is the exercise of arbitrary power overruling a court judgment. Australia has become a nasty, authoritarian state," he tweeted.
Australia really is a banana republic.
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) January 14, 2022
Djokovic deported on the grounds of public health, as if the unvaccinated are lepers.
This is the exercise of arbitrary power overruling a court judgement. Australia has become a nasty, authoritarian state.https://t.co/is4hIqET1X
If the Djokovic decision looks capricious, arbitrary and politically motivated, that’s because it is. The Migration Act allows for this because it was designed so refugees lives could be destroyed for political purposes. It must be amended to provide fairness and natural justice
— Nick McKim (@NickMcKim) January 14, 2022
Others, like New York Times reporter Gabe Hudson, believed Djokovic "literally turned himself into a bioweapon and arrived like some conqueror who doesn't give sh*t abt (sic) their laws or ppl (sic)".
Over in the tennis world, UK great Andy Murray said: "I am not going to sit here and start kicking Novak while he is down. I said it the other day, it is not a good situation for anyone."
In Australian media, host of The Project Lisa Wilkinson cut straight to the chase moments after the decision was made, discussing the situation with Aussie tennis legend Rennae Stubbs.
"6pm Friday night, dropping a story, is a classic political move if you want to kill a story, but I don't think it will be killed. How do you think Novak will feel right now?" Wilkinson asked.
"I think sad, probably a little bit angry. A bit bemused. Unsure. You name it. I'm not in his head but I suspect, I have a feeling he will try and fight this at some point," Stubbs replied.
On Wednesday, Djokovic spelled out exactly what he did on the days before and after his positive Covid result last month.
In an Instagram statement, Djokovic said he attended a basketball game in Belgrade on December 14, after which a number of people tested positive to Covid.
He said he took a rapid antigen test on December 16, despite having no symptoms, which came back negative, and then out of "an abundance of caution" also took a PCR test on the same day.
"The next day [December 17] I attended a tennis event in Belgrade to present awards to children and took a rapid antigen test before going to the event, and it was negative," Djokovic wrote.
This is the event at which Djokovic was pictured maskless with a group of children.
"I was asymptomatic and felt good, and I had not received the notification of a positive PCR test result until after that event," he continued.
Djokovic also admitted on social media to going through with an interview and photoshoot on December 18, despite knowing he was Covid-19 positive. He didn't tell anyone at L'Equipe he had contracted the virus, calling it an "error of judgment" that saw him slammed on social media.
The Belarusian was defeated by Madison Keys for the women's singles title.