Australian Open: Novak Djokovic readies Covid-19 vaccine exemption case for visa showdown
- Lawyers for tennis world No 1 will argue he has the all-clear because of a positive Covid-19 test in December
- But pictures show the Serb without a mask mixing with children the day after he reportedly tested positive
Tennis world No 1 Novak Djokovic readied his legal guns on Sunday for a battle to stay in Melbourne and defend his Australian Open title, arguing he has the all-clear because of a positive coronavirus test in December.
Djokovic’s fight to overturn the shock cancellation of his visa and his ensuing detention in a notorious Melbourne immigration facility will culminate in a highly publicised online hearing in federal court on Monday.
The vaccine-sceptic Serbian star awaited the showdown holed up in the former Park Hotel, a five-storey facility that holds about 32 migrants trapped in Australia’s hardline immigration system – some for years.
Nobody is allowed in or out except staff.
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Tennis star Djokovic denied entry to Melbourne ahead of Australian Open over vaccine exemption error
More than 100 protesters, many of them migrant rights activists, gathered in a park opposite the hotel.
“Free, free, the refugees,” the crowd chanted as dozens of police stood by.