Novak Djokovic is a virus! It is right and proper he was expelled from the tennis tournament and from Australia itself. His stance on vaccination, being anti-vax, his refusal to self-isolate in December when he had the virus – been seen several times in public without a mask – his arrogance on assuming he’d be granted special exemption to enter Australia, because he’s special – all these are despicable. Ban him from all tennis tournaments, from all countries, unless he gets vaccinated, doubly vaccinated with boosters on top, otherwise good riddance to him.
That’s one perspective – on Novak Djokovic, the world’s number one tennis player who though fit and healthy and Covid free is not playing in the Australian Open tennis tournament because the politician forbade it and the politician has the power.
The politician being Australia’s immigration minister, Mr. Hawke – hawk eye – who declaring that rules are rules said, ‘No one is above these rules. Our strong border policies have been critical to Australia having one of the lowest death rates in the world from Covid; we are continuing to be vigilant.’ The specific rule he’s referring to is that non-vaccinated persons will be refused entry to Australia. Novak is persona non-vaccinated.
Though rules are rules, often they are flexible, some can be bent, others can be broken; that’s why we have lawyers. The local politicians of Victoria, Tennis Australia and the sponsors of the Australian Open wanted Novak because he’s number one – a number one event without the number one is not a number one event. The upshot was Novak got a visa, got on a plane, convinced it would be a-okay, but he was detained on arrival, housed in a basic hotel for a few days, until the lawyers got on his case, leading to a judge deciding in Novak’s favour, citing a bungle in the process at Melbourne Airport and ordering the government to reinstate his visa and free him from detention. First set: Djokovic. However, days later, Mr. Hawke, exercising his executive powers, cancelled the visa and deported Novak. Game set and match: Hawke.
Politics of course has a context. There’s an election on the Australian horizon but moreover, there’s a pandemic in the air and Australians have been subjected to among the most stringent rules of lockdown. Things have turned out badly for them. Most have done everything asked of them. They got vaccinated and double and are now getting their boosters. But still, the Omicron variant is rampant, leaving many to ask what more could they have done and indeed ask deeper questions. What is all this lockdown and vaccination for if Covid is escalating? If Covid is spreading faster with 90% vaccinated than it did before vaccination, i.e. 100% unvaccinated, how can the unvaccinated be responsible for spreading it? Where’s the proof the vaccines are halting the spread of the virus? Could the virus be mutating into more pervasive variants to survive? And what’s really behind the government’s war on the unvaccinated?
That’s not the overriding perception, yet. For now it seems that juxtaposing the current circumstances against a very rich non-Australian unvaccinated tennis star who admits to breaking isolation rules while Covid positive would cause many to feel aggrieved if he was allowed to play. Also, having made the rule, Mr Hawke has to enforce it otherwise he’d be perceived as weak and lose as in the majority would vote him out.
Thus, it’s politics, not tennis, which wins. Hawke eye has spoken: Novak’s (or Novav’s) ball is out.
