An Australian Circuit Court Judge; Anthony Kelly has reinstated Novak Djokovic’s visa, which was canceled after his arrival last week because he was not vaccinated.
He also ordered the government on Monday to release the tennis star from his Melbourne hotel quarantine within 30 minutes of his decision.
Public prosecutor Christopher Tran told the judge after the verdict that the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Overseas Services and Multicultural Affairs, Alex Hawke, “would consider whether to exercise personal power of revocation.”
This would mean that Djokovic could face relegation again and miss the Australian Open, which starts on January 17. The Australian government revoked 34-year-old Djokovic’s visa shortly after arriving in Melbourne late on Wednesday to play at the Australian Open after authorities decided he did not meet the exemption criteria for entry requiring that all non-citizens be fully vaccinated for COVID-19.
Djokovic, who court documents say is unconvincing, argued he did not need proof of vaccination because he had evidence that he was infected with the coronavirus last month.
Australian medical authorities have ruled that a temporary exemption to the vaccination rule may be provided to people who have been infected with COVID-19 within six months.
Judge Anthony Kelly said Djokovic had provided officials at Melbourne’s airport a medical exemption granted by Tennis Australia, which is organizing the tournament starting January 17, and two medical panels.
“What I’m a little excited about is, what else could this guy do?” Kelly asked Djokovic’s attorney, Nick Wood.
Wood agreed with the judge that Djokovic could not do much more.
Tapes of Djokovic’s interviews with Border Force officers and his affidavit show that “repeated appeals to the officers with whom he was dealing with his understanding, without protest, he completely and did everything. He understood was necessary to enter Australia,” Wood said.
Djokovic has been in hotel quarantine in Melbourne since Thursday when his visa was revoked.
But the judge ordered that the world’s number 1 ranked tennis player be released from the hotel quarantine during a court hearing. It is not clear where Djokovic went during the hearing. He did not appear on the screen in the initial hours of virtual hearing.
Djokovic’s lawyers presented 11 grounds for appeal against the cancellation of his visa. Lawyers called the cancellations “severely illogical”, irrational and legally unreasonable.
The Lawyers for Home Affairs Minister; Karen Andres said in their arguments that if the judge ruled in Djokovic’s favor, the authorities could revoke his visa for a second time.
He said that the requirement of vaccination could be deferred only for the arrival of passengers who may have contracted the COVID-19 infection if their illness was acute.
“There is no suggestion that the applicant (Djokovic) had ‘acute major medical illness’ in December” when he tested positive, the written submission said.
The virtual hearing crashed several times as a large number of people from all over the world were trying to watch the proceedings.
At one point, an expired court link was hacked and pornography was circulated, The New Daily News website reports.
Djokovic is a nine-time Australian Open champion. He holds 20 Grand Slam singles titles, a men’s record he shares with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
