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As the judge ordered Djokovic released, however, attorneys representing the Australian government warned that the immigration minister was considering whether to re-cancel Djokovic’s visa, threatening a new showdown. A short time later, crowds began to gather in downtown Melbourne, chanting “Novak, Novak!” and “Free Nole!” as dusk fell.
Djokovic’s attorneys had presented a forceful case against Australia’s treatment of the tennis star on Monday, at times appearing to draw agreement from the judge. But the government argued it had the right to turn away anyone who poses a potential health risk.
Djokovic, 34, had been held in Melbourne’s Park Hotel since Thursday after his visa was canceled upon his arrival in the country Wednesday night, when authorities rejected his request for an exemption from Australia’s requirement that visitors be vaccinated against the coronavirus. Djokovic appealed the decision, setting up Monday’s legal contest.
The high-profile case captured headlines by pitting the steely Serb against Australia’s strict pandemic protocols. Djokovic’s family denounced his treatment, and Serbian and Australian officials traded criticism. The case transformed the unvaccinated sports star — already a prominent skeptic of coronavirus vaccines — into a lightning rod for the global vaccination debate.
As the hearing got underway, Djokovic’s attorney, Nick Wood, argued that the tennis player had provided the Australian government with all required documentation and then received a reply from the Department of Home Affairs saying his responses indicated he met the requirement of quarantine-free travel.
“What is someone in Mr. Djokovic’s position supposed to understand?” Wood asked. “Any reasonable person would understand, and he did understand, that he had ticked absolutely every box.”
Kelly appeared to agree, noting that there been a “back and forth” of information from various levels of government, and that Djokovic’s medical exemption had been approved by two independent panels of specialists.
“The point that I’m somewhat agitated about is, what more could this man have done,” he asked.
The judge said he was perturbed by the treatment Djokovic received at the airport, saying Australian Border Force officials had “reneged" on an agreement to let the tennis player speak to his attorneys and tournament organizers.
“The transcript is replete with statements by Mr. Djokovic saying, ‘If you will let me talk to people, though you’ve taken my phone from me, I will try and get you what you want,’” Kelly said, not hiding his exasperation with the government’s handling of the case.
The government then briefly outlined its position. Lawyer Christopher Tran argued that Djokovic’s appeal — including the accusation that the tennis player was pressured to speak without his attorneys or tennis officials — was more of a challenge of the process than the outcome, which ultimately came down to the Australian government’s ability under the law to prohibit someone from entering the country to protect the health of the nation.
“That provision does not present a high bar,” he said.
But Kelly said he had a “reservation” about that argument, suggesting that the treatment of the tennis player should be taken into account.
“Forget this case, take any case,” he said. “If you found that a particular finding of fact or particular reasoning was utterly irrational or unsupportable or illogical, then that would effectively destroy or undermine the ultimate decision.”
What was supposed to have been an hour break then stretched for three times as long.
When proceedings resumed, Kelly wasted no time in delivering a flurry of commands. He overturned the government’s decision to cancel Djokovic’s visa, ordered his immediate and unconditional release and instructed the government to return the tennis player’s passport and other belongings. He also ordered the government to pay Djokovic’s costs.
The government had conceded that its broken promise to allow Djokovic to talk to his lawyers and tennis officials at the airport was “unreasonable,” Kelly said.
When Tran informed the court that the minister for immigration would consider using his “personal power” to again cancel Djokovic’s visa, Kelly showed a flash of anger.
“It would be fair to say I could have been something approaching incandescent if I discovered that for the first time in the later hours of this evening or the early hours of tomorrow,” he said, later warning that a ministerial cancelation of Djokovic’s visa would bar the athlete from the country for three years.
The saga began last week when Djokovic, who is seeking to break the record for men’s Grand Slam singles titles, posted on Instagram that he was “heading Down Under with an exemption permission.”
The post sparked outrage in Australia, which has recently experienced a sharp spike in coronavirus infections despite high vaccination rates. When Djokovic arrived at the Melbourne airport, he was detained for eight hours overnight before being transferred to the Park Hotel, where asylum seekers are detained, until his appeal could be decided.
In court documents filed ahead of Monday’s hearing, Djokovic’s attorneys argue his visa was not subject to any vaccination conditions and was improperly canceled. They also say the tennis star believed he had obtained the requisite medical exemption and that Australian immigration officials had signed off on “quarantine-free” entry.
But federal officials insisted the exemption — based on Djokovic’s contracting the virus in December, according to court filings — only applied to the tournament and was not sufficient to enter the country.
On Sunday, the head of Tennis Australia blamed the situation on “contradictory information” received during months of communication with the federal government.
Djokovic is not the only player caught up in the debacle. After detaining the Serb, the Australian Border Force also launched an investigation into whether others had entered the country using the same type of medical exemption. Officials then canceled the visas of a foreign official and Czech doubles player Renata Voracova, both of whom have since left.
Within 90 minutes of the decision on Monday, scores of Djokovic’s supporters had gathered at Melbourne’s Federation Square. As a drummer pounded on a marching band drum, two teenage girls draped in Serbian flags volleyed a tennis ball back and forth. It was game on for Djokovic and party on for his supporters.
“It’s a special moment,” said Andrea Jovanovic, 34, as her daughter held a Serbian flag up to the evening sun.
Nearby, a woman in her seventies dressed in traditional Balkan clothing stood beneath a parasol that said “Not Anti-Vax, Pro Liberty.” Australian officials had made a mess of the situation, said the woman, who would only give her name as Zorica.
“They mixed the omelet, now they don’t know how to swallow it,” she said, using a sanitized version of a Serbian expression. Zorica said she had spent the past five days demonstrating in support of Djokovic, whose nickname the growing crowd now chanted: “Nole, Nole!”
“He was the sacrificial lamb,” she said.
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