Bungling Australia unwittingly made a martyr of Novak Djokovic

For all that the full force of Australian bureaucracy has derailed in Novak Djokovic’s progress to a record 21st major title, it has also unwittingly made him a martyr. The Serbian ultras who turned up here wearing “greatest of all time” T-shirts, adorned with a silhouette of the world No.1 wearing a crown, barely scratched the surface of the rage. It was left to his compatriots in the locker room to express the smouldering resentment at his deportation.

Laslo Djere, formerly Djokovic’s protege, did not temper his disgust, describing the situation as “catastrophic”. With the first day of this Australian Open eclipsed by the nine-time champion’s humiliating departure from Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport, flanked by border force officials after a federal court upheld a decision to cancel his visa for a second time, the 26-year-old Djere claimed that the spectacle would make all players, Serbian or otherwise, revise their perceptions of the country.

Petar Civkovic, a supporter of Novak Djokovic, speaks outside the VIP exit of Belgrade’s international airport.Credit:Oliver Bunic

“To tell you the truth, not just Serbians, I think the whole world saw it and they will probably have a new or different opinion about Australia,” said Djere. “I mean, the guy had an exemption, and they still deported him. He’s not vaccinated, but we were told we could enter the country with an exemption, which he had, and yet he’s not here with us. Something went horribly wrong. It was a truly catastrophic situation.”

Despite Djokovic’s stellar record at Melbourne Park, and his attempts to cultivate an enduring relationship with audiences here, he had, in Djere’s view, been abandoned by the Australian public. “He’s a great guy and always tries to help others, but most of the Australian people wanted him to leave,” Djere argued. “Two years ago, when there were the bushfires, he donated a good amount of money, and now here in Australia everyone just turned their backs on him.”

For all the expectation that the Serbian-Australian community would stage mass protests at the tournament, the mood among Djokovic supporters was one of weary bitterness at their idol’s fate. A few of those watching Dusan Lajovic’s victory over Marton Fucsovics draped themselves in Serbian flags, still absorbing the significance of Djokovic’s ejection and the possibility that he could be banned from Australia for three years.

People hold a banner reading “Novak, God bless you” as they wait outside the VIP exit of Belgrade’s international airport.Credit:Oliver Bunic

Soon enough, Craig Tiley, the chief executive of Tennis Australia, will need to acknowledge his role in this scarcely credible debacle. After all, it has been reported that it was Tiley’s assurance to Djokovic that his medical exemption was above board that encouraged him to fly to Australia in the first place. But the collapse in communications, with the government’s ruling that a prior COVID-19 infection did not make him exempt at all, set in train 10 days of legal theatre that culminated in the near-destruction of Djokovic’s reputation. Resignations have been demanded for less. It is little wonder that Tiley, normally the first to trumpet the virtues of his tournament, has disappeared from public view.

Djere’s condemnation was echoed by Lajovic, who reserved particular criticism for Immigration Minister Alex Hawke’s rationale that Djokovic could aggravate anti-vaccination sentiment in Australia.

“I think that the way they treated him was terribly wrong, that the decision itself was terribly wrong, and that the reason why they did it was terribly wrong. For this to be based just on an idea, I don’t think it’s the right way. I hope that in the future, he will be the best player in history, and that in the future this will only be looked at as a setback on that path.”

It falls to Rafael Nadal to try to compound Djokovic’s misery by edging ahead in the scramble to become statistically the greatest men’s player in history. Even though he has played just 12 events in the past two years, and even though 13 years have elapsed since his solitary Australian Open triumph, he might never have a better chance at snatching a 21st title at the expense of his Serbian rival. After all, this is the first time in his professional career that he has entered a slam without either Djokovic or Roger Federer for company.

Novak Djokovic looks at his documents after landing in Belgrade on Monday.Credit:AP Photo

Nadal, a nimble diplomat, was not about to second-guess the fairness or legality of Australia’s move to dispatch Djokovic back to Monte Carlo. As he put it, shortly after swatting aside American Marcos Giron in straight sets: “I will never be against what the justice says.”

But he did offer sympathy for Djokovic on a human level, and a concession that the tournament was diminished in his absence. “The situation has been a mess,” he said. “He’s not the only one who did things badly in the case. There are more responsibilities on everyone for this terrible situation that we have faced for the last two weeks. In a personal sense, I would like to see him playing here. If Novak is playing, it’s better for everybody – no doubt about that.”

It was as pointed a criticism as you would ever hear from Nadal. And it conveyed one essential truth: that Tiley, in his desperation to involve Djokovic and in his apparent obliviousness to the federal government’s rules, has inadvertently sabotaged his own party.

– Telegraph, London

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