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MELBOURNE, Australia – It was Novak Djokovic’s third visit to Rod Laver Arena since he was sprung from immigration detention Monday night by a successful appeal on technicalities, concerning the revocation of his visa.
But it was the first time it wasn’t behind closed doors, with all theunnecessary secrecy and subterfuge that came with it.
However, even across the complex, the camera feed from Rod Laver Arena (which had been turned off Tuesday as Djokovic took to the court) was showing players training in … John Cain Arena.
There was a news helicopter hovering around Rod Laver Arena as some 30 photographers, videographers and a few print journalists headed inside Rod Laver Arena for a glimpse of the man who has been making all the headlines for the last week.
Here’s what it all looked like.
At Home on Rod Laver Arena
Rod Laver Arena is the scene of nine of Djokovic’s Grand Slam victories. It’s home. And while his off-court drama seems to still be mid-drama, he is on the court, and practicing with the expectation that he might be able to play in Melbourne, and vie for his 21st career Grand Slam title.
As was the case Tuesday, Djokovic did not hit with another top player. Rather, he was there with another young Aussie. This time, it was 20-year-old Tristan Schoolkate, who lost in the qualifying the previous day and (ironically enough) was wearing camo.
Same old Djokovic
It’s not as though you would expect him to look somehow … changed by his experiences of the last week. Which are not over.
But beyond perhaps having less of a suntan that he normally would have by Jan. 12 Down Under, he looked like … Novak Djokovic.
Cameras clicked and video cameras whirred and the helicopter hovered overhead. But Djokovic was back at work.
Instagram post reveals little
In the wake of the evidence on released documents from Djokovic’s appeal hearing, he (or what sounds more like his lawyer) addressed a few issues with an Instagram post that coincidentally landed shortly before he took to the court to practice.
We’ll leave it to you to make your own judgments.
Everyone has their own opinion. At this point it’s all just exhausting. And from what we can determine, a long way from over.
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But, if Tennis Australia had told him at the beginning that he was past the deadline to apply, & rejected his application, meaning he couldn’t play, wouldn’t there then have been no need for him to apply to the Federal government, & avoid this mess? Sorry, don’t mean to harp, but am trying to figure this out logically, if that’s even possible. Tennis Australia has a lot to answer for.
That’s a nice world you inhabit. But that’s not, you know, the real world.
Why has no one been pressed on the fact that the medical exemption deadline was Dec 10, & yet Djoko’s was accepted well after that date? It should not even have been looked at, but rejected on the spot because of that alone. That would have avoided all this unnecessary drama.
I can’t see Djoko not being allowed to say & play when the pro-Djoko judge has already said that if the minister revokes his visa anyway, they will have to appear before him again, & he will grant a temporary injunction so that he can stay & play. So, I doubt that Djoko is stressed about it.
And, what was Djoko going to do if he hadn’t (supposedly) tested positive for Covid at the last minute? Skip the tournament? I don’t think that was ever part of his plan Personally, I don’t think he even had Covid in Dec. As with everything to do with this, even his test was dodgy. One QC scan of his results said negative, & the next one said positive. Wouldn’t surprise me if he paid a lab to give him a positive result, so that he could apply for a medical exemption. The whole thing stinks of Tiley & Djoko trying to pull a fast one to allow him to play.
He attributes everything he did wrong to “human error”. Well, human errors have consequences in real life unless you happen to be one of the privileged few, of which Djoko is. No other player would have been allowed to get away with any of this. Not worth mentioning Fed or Nadal because they have too much class to get themselves into a situation like this. Both he & the Australian govt made errors, but he only expects his to be overlooked. I have never been a Djoko fan (find him such a phony), but I have always believed in fair play. If any of this had made any sense, & there was a clear case that he deserved to be allowed to stay & play, I could have accepted that. But, there are too many inconsistencies, & doubts surrounding everything to do that.
Who can’t press people who are hiding.But yes, it’s been brought up plenty.
But while that was definitely special treatment, it has nothing to do with anything at issue here. The deadline was one set by Tennis Australia to get their information in. It was hardly anything related to the government – let alone the federal government.