No Vax Djokavic

[Marc Meakin]

How do we feel about this.
Is this a civil liberties issue or is he just being a dick and deserves deportation?

[Gavin Chipper]

It's a very strange situation and it seems like it's been politicised. It's not clear on what grounds he initially obtained the exemption to being vaccinated, and it's not clear why his visa has now suddenly been cancelled despite this.

When the visa thing came up in the news yesterday, it seemed that there was something wrong with the visa, independently of the vaccine thing, just by coincidence. E.g. in this BBC article, it says:

World number one tennis player Novak Djokovic's entry to Australia has been delayed over an issue with his visa.

The player arrived in Melbourne on Wednesday, where authorities noticed that his team had made a mistake on his application.

But now that the story has matured a bit, it seems that it's all related after all. BBC, Guardian for a bit of context.

[Gavin Chipper]

Apparently the exemption was because he had COVID in December.

In court documents released on Saturday, Djokovic's lawyers said the player had been granted a temporary visa to enter the country and provided with a "medical exemption from Covid vaccination" by Tennis Australia because of his recent infection.

Althoug this is lumped in together in the same sentence, the visa and the exemption from Tennis Australia would be completely separate things.

[Phil H]

Apparently[/url] the exemption was because he had COVID in December.

It's proved fairly straightforward for internet sleuths to find photos of him attending events, posing with groups of children and so on, on days which are likely to have immediately followed his supposed positive test.

(E.g. https://www.facebook.com/10006895317281 ... 98092/?d=n)

[Marc Meakin]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-59926777

The plot thickens

[Phil H]

"In his book Serve to Win, Djokovic described how in 2010 he met with a nutritionist who asked him to hold a piece of bread in his left hand while he pressed down on his right arm. Djokovic claims he was much weaker while holding the bread, and cited this as evidence of gluten intolerance."

(Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-59897918)

[L'oisleatch McGraw]

Pool oul Novax!
He's having a bad week...

What I don't understand: can they not just do a PCR test? If he hasn't got the virus right now, and he's already in Australia, let him play ffs.
Where is common sense in all of this?
Seems more like a dick measuring contest.

[Marc Meakin]

Pool oul Novax!
He's having a bad week...

What I don't understand: can they not just do a PCR test? If he hasn't got the virus right now, and he's already in Australia, let him play ffs.
Where is common sense in all of this?
Seems more like a dick measuring contest.

This week looks better though.
I must admit I'm torn here as Djokovic is not very likeable and refusing a vaccine last year was stoopid.
But the Australian immigration department do piss me off.
Just the bug spraying you get before you get off the plane pisses me off though.

So on reflection I hope he wins it

[Phil H]

Oof plot twist

[Marc Meakin]

Oof plot twist

Visa cancelled again I believe.
Coincidentally Djokavic is nearly an anagram of Co-vid Joke

[Elliott Mellor]

Oof plot twist

Visa cancelled again I believe.
Coincidentally Djokavic is nearly an anagram of Co-vid Joke

It's even nearer if you use the correct spelling, Djokovic.

[Gavin Chipper]

Anyway, he's been deported now.

[Marc Meakin]

Anyway, he's been deported now.

Serbs him right

[Matt Morrison]

Anyway, he's been deported now.

Serbs him right

Serves him right

[Adam Gillard]

Anyway, he's been deported now.

Serbs him right

Serves him right

Took me a minute, ace pun!

[Marc Meakin]

Anyway, he's been deported now.

Serbs him right

Serves him right

Unforced error

[Gavin Chipper]

Dodgy batch numbers.

[Adam Gillard]

Dodgy batch numbers.

So he lied / falsified the positive test date to get to the Australian Open, which is bad, but that means he wasn't deliberately infecting children at that awards ceremony the next day, which is good!

[Gavin Chipper]

And so Nadal beats him to 21.

[Marc Meakin]

And so Nadal beats him to 21.

Novax will prolly reach close to 30 by the time he retires

[Gavin Chipper]

And so Nadal beats him to 21.

Novax will prolly reach close to 30 by the time he retires

Maybe. He keeps sabotaging himself though. If he's not avoiding being vaccinated, he's getting disqualified for whacking balls at people.

[JackHurst]

And so Nadal beats him to 21.

I was very pleased that this happened

[Gavin Chipper]

Looks like he's got his own vaccine named after him now.