Tennis 2022

[Brophs]

Curious what people are thinking at this stage. What’s going to happen? Will he:

a) get sent home, unvaccinated and unbowed
b) stay stay stay and play play play
c) crush the windpipe of another octogenarian

?

 

[Desert Eagle]

Curious what people are thinking at this stage. What’s going to happen? Will he:

a) get sent home, unvaccinated and unbowed
b) stay stay stay and play play play
c) crush the windpipe of another octogenarian

?

He's not playing for sure. Tournament is less than ten days away.

 

[BeforeKeanetherewasRobson]

Curious what people are thinking at this stage. What’s going to happen? Will he:

a) get sent home, unvaccinated and unbowed
b) stay stay stay and play play play
c) crush the windpipe of another octogenarian

?

(a) then (c) to a random person who happens to be passing by as he’s escorted from the hotel.

 

[fishfingers15]

The talk of border entry resulting in re-litigating of Visa is a bit of a stretch. I don't know of any country that does not execute strenuous checks while granting entry permit/visa. Immigration officers or border control officers at the port of entry mostly just check the validity of visa and at best ask to re-produce the OG documents. Visa issuers are only suppose to ensure validity of the said documents. The fact now Oz authorities themselves are investigating how some other players supposedly got in with similar exemptions pretty much confirms this to be the case. Frankly most of the people I have seen getting harassed at entry are generally being profiled due to their religion or nationality. Barely anyone just waltzes in to an airport without a valid visa. Imagine if even 5 % of people with visa routinely got rejected entry at port of entry, the whole travel system to Oz or any such country would collapse.

Djokovic is an anti-vax idiot clearly but primarily Oz authorities are at fault here. They simply should not have given exemption to any player in the first place. They wanted a big tennis star to play and then immediately buckled under the public backlash. Oz PM trying to act the big man now is laughable when his authorities granted visa in the first place. I don't buy Djoko going to court with falsified documents either.

Nailed it

 

[jojojo]

Curious what people are thinking at this stage. What’s going to happen? Will he:

a) get sent home, unvaccinated and unbowed
b) stay stay stay and play play play
c) crush the windpipe of another octogenarian

?

He gets appointed as Serbian Ambassador to Australia and enters the country unchallenged on a diplomatic passport.

 

[Raoul]

Imagine being exiled from Australia

 

[Brophs]

He gets appointed as Serbian Ambassador to Australia and enters the country unchallenged on a diplomatic passport.

And then he’s hosting a garden party for the elderly ambassador from Macedonia, or something and BAM!

 

[mariachi-19]

feck this is funny. Stupid cnut.

Aus better not cave. Let the silly fecker rot.

 

[Ainu]

Why should rules be respected? If they're clearly daft rules then they should be actively disrespected. This isn't primary school.

Because you don't get to personally decide which rules are daft and which aren't.

 

[calodo2003]

Why should rules be respected? If they're clearly daft rules then they should be actively disrespected. This isn't primary school.

 

[Wibble]

Sorry to reply to you twice (nothing personal ) but I don't think that's factually correct? @Wibble ?

You are right. When you apply for a visa you confirm that you comply with the conditions of entry onecof which is being fully vaccinated or are eligible for a waiver of the requirement.

In this casecwhen he arrived it looks like he didn't qualify for a waiver. The assumption is that he was trying to use part infection as a justification which isn't grounds for a waiver.

I think he assumed that getting permission to play from the AO was the same as getting entry clearance which arextwo very different things.

Stupid of the AO ,and Vic government not to make sure these requirements were aligned but also mainly the Federal government's issue as this has been a high profile thing for ages and as usual #scottyfrommarketing has turned his brain off and done nothing relying on others for everything.

There is a rumor that Djokovic's gloating set an enquiry off that resulted in him being refused and that 2 other players got in with a cursor glance at the AO waiver who may now have their visa's cancelled.

 

[Wibble]

It happens in many airports. I have flown from a couple of airports in the gulf where immigration check in happens at the transit airport. Also, as someone who used to fly fairly regularly between India and US, validity of visa was checked at the departure point in India by the airline staff almost every single time.

Airlines do a basic check that you have a passport and a visa etc. They currently also check that you have things like a current PCR test and vaccination proof. However, this usually isn't anything official and is to minimise the risk of the airline having to deport you. People get visas cancelled all the time on entry because they don't have the correct visa or the correct paperwork.

 

[InfiniteBoredom]

@Wibble As much as I would like to agree with you and blame SFM for this, it’s clear that this is the Victorian government and TA’s fault, they either were oblivious to or ignored ATAGI’s instruction and tried to cook up an excuse for their golden goose to get in, contrary to federal’s requirements. The PM shouldn’t be personally responsible to keep on top of visa and vaccination status for athletes competing in a sporting event, as high profile as this is.

 

[Mr Pigeon]

Incorrect documents or not, public pressure or not, you'd probably have more luck getting into North Korea than Australia. At least if you went to Pyongyang you could bring fruit into the country with you.

Unless he and his team have been bubbled off from the reality of Aussie customs for the last 10-15 years that he's been going there, it's impossible not to know how strict their customs checks are.

Complaining about how strict they are is irrelevant. Them's the rules. Nobody is forcing him to come to the tournament - it's not like he's desperate for the fecking money. But he seems more than happy to just idly go about his business putting others at risk (I know the vaccine won't prevent him from passing the virus about, but if he's antivax then it's not a stretch to assume that he also doesn't give a shit about preventative measures).

And the utter shite coming from his family is.... Well. Utter shite. He's a revolutionary and changing the world? He hits a ball with a fecking stick for a couple of minutes, puts a towel over his face for a couple of minutes, pretends he's got cramp for a couple of minutes, and grunts. Physically and mentally it's impressive as feck, but nobody looks at tennis and thinks "feck, the whole world would explode if we didn't play this".

 

[Wibble]

US in November announced new restrictions that no unvaccinated foreigners will be allowed entry, barring an exception for diplomats, allergies, etc.
Whether that has been enforced, I don't know. The UK and France are still open, but based on that, the US isn't.

My son returned to the US a few days ago and he had to provide vaccination proof on entry. There are grounds for a waiver like most countries but "I don't like vaccines isn't one of them".

 

[BeforeKeanetherewasRobson]

@Wibble As much as I would like to agree with you and blame SFM for this, it’s clear that this is the Victorian government and TA’s fault, they either were oblivious to or ignored ATAGI’s instruction and tried to cook up an excuse for their golden goose to get in, contrary to federal’s requirements. The PM shouldn’t be personally responsible to keep on top of visa and vaccination status for athletes competing in a sporting event, as high profile as this is.

Looks more like ignored? (Not great copy but that’s the letter doing the rounds to AO Head in November.)

https://www.tennis365.com/australia...ief-novak-djokovic-visa-covid-19-vaccination/

 

[Wibble]

@Wibble As much as I would like to agree with you and blame SFM for this, it’s clear that this is the Victorian government and TA’s fault, they either were oblivious to or ignored ATAGI’s instruction and tried to cook up an excuse for their golden goose to get in, contrary to federal’s requirements. The PM shouldn’t be personally responsible to keep on top of visa and vaccination status for athletes competing in a sporting event, as high profile as this is.

They aren't blame free but #scottyfrommarketing does this all the time. Refuses to be involved, says that it is a matter for the states and then happily tries to throw them under the bus when it is politically expedient.

When this blew up the Feds asked Victoria if they supported the visa before cancelling it when Victoria said border control wasn't their responsibility (because it's a trap). It looks like they let 2 other players through with no scrutiny other than them having the AO waiver but backtracked when it became so unpopular. The 2 other players are now potentially going yto get their visas cancelled as well.

AO and Vic get some blame and were stupid to trust #scottyfrommarketing and should have got written approval that the medical waiver to enter the open would be enough to get entry to the country as we know he is totally untrustworthy.

In order of blame,

1) Djokovich





2) #scottyfrommarketing
3) AO
4) Victorian Government

The upshot is however perfect. An antivaxxer made to stay in less than 5* conditions for a few days and then either deported or allowed to remain to be hopefully booed in every game.

 

[Mihajlovic]

Imagine being exiled from Australia

 

[BeforeKeanetherewasRobson]

Be funny if the appeal gets rejected and he’s put on a plane with the other players/team members who might now get deported because of the Djokovic spotlight.

Be a fun flight.

https://www.theguardian.com/austral...similar-to-novak-djokovic-under-investigation

 

[Wibble]

Imagine being exiled from Australia

Settle down

 

[ExoduS]

Imagine if he actually gets in and wins it despite all the booing. Did it to Federer couple of times despite facing match points.

It is tennis... Fans are mute most of the match. Couple of amazing points and people start cheering.

Djokovic feeds of adversity. He made his career out of it.

Actually I'm pretty sure that if he is let in, he will win it.

 

[Wibble]

Curious what people are thinking at this stage. What’s going to happen? Will he:

a) get sent home, unvaccinated and unbowed
b) stay stay stay and play play play
c) crush the windpipe of another octogenarian

?

Those options aren't mutually exclusive

 

[Wibble]

A decent summary

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2...cism-but-so-do-others-australian-open-vaccine

 

[Wibble]

Imagine if he actually gets in and wins it despite all the booing. Did it to Federer couple of times despite facing match points.

It is tennis... Fans are mute most of the match. Couple of amazing points and people start cheering.

Djokovic feeds of adversity. He made his career out of it.

Actually I'm pretty sure that if he is let in, he will win it.

I wouldn't mind him winning while getting booed continually.

 

[ExoduS]

I wouldn't mind him winning while getting booed continually.

Oh come on. Off course you would.

This entire situation is making me effing depressed. Djokovic went crazy after about 2016 and COVID did not help at all. Not like he was a saint before it, but at least he wasn't involved with cookoo crowd.

This time of the year used to be my favorite. Australian open with most beautiful color of the court in my opinion and really quality tennis usually as all players are fresh. Before 2014, United used to just about catch the steam for the remaining of the year.

United sucking, Djokovic going crazy, this pandemic not effing ending, entire World on the edge. Awesome start to 2022.

 

[Sir Matt]

He gets appointed as Serbian Ambassador to Australia and enters the country unchallenged on a diplomatic passport.

Then they could persona non grata him and deport him again. I hope Serbia tries this.

Maybe deportation from Australia should just be referred to as transportation.

 

[Cooksen]

Imagine being exiled from Australia

 

[wr8_utd]

The Australian Home Minister has said that Novak is not being held or detained against his will and he's free to leave the country anytime he wants and that the ABF would facilitate that.

 

[wr8_utd]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

 

[Cooksen]

Gotta love scotty from marketing and the feds.

Does feck all to create quarantine facilities (Palmed it off to the states despite it being their constitutional duty) for covid and yet against Novaxx they suddenly care about our borders and beat the chest.

 

[reelworld]

I saw something on Twitter (I think it might have been an ex-ESPN tennis correspondent) talking about what can/should be done for future comps.

Obviously, the easy (some .. me.. would say obvious) thing is get vaccinated and fully understand each countries requirements but journo was saying that the ATP would be wise to put out some statement to all players to try and preempt/avoid future such issues... or at least to be able to say "told you" and not look like Tennis Aus.

A positive (apart from Djokovic looking like an idiot) may be clarity and more sportspersons getting vaccinated.

Just thinking... not heard stories about footballers but guessing as rules within Europe are not as stringent.

I think it would be easier to implement a vaccine rule in tennis tournament than football matches, because the amount of people involved in tennis matches is much less than football. With the rise of omicron, I'm hopeful that a vaccination rule will be implemented in future grand slams

 

[Wibble]

Oh come on. Off course you would.

I wouldn't mind him winning and being booed.

I wouldn't like him winning and not getting booed.

This entire situation is making me effing depressed. Djokovic went crazy after about 2016 and COVID did not help at all. Not like he was a saint before it, but at least he wasn't involved with cookoo crowd.

This time of the year used to be my favorite. Australian open with most beautiful color of the court in my opinion and really quality tennis usually as all players are fresh. Before 2014, United used to just about catch the steam for the remaining of the year.

United sucking, Djokovic going crazy, this pandemic not effing ending, entire World on the edge. Awesome start to 2022.

I used to really like him as a player. When we were in Belgrade in 2017 we frequently had a cold drink at his tennis centre as it was next door to the pool my son was playing in, and a few in our party were always on the lookout for him (no idea if he was even in the country) but now I wouldn't set foot in the place. His antivaxx nonsense is disgusting imo.

 

[Wibble]

The talk of border entry resulting in re-litigating of Visa is a bit of a stretch. I don't know of any country that does not execute strenuous checks while granting entry permit/visa. Immigration officers or border control officers at the port of entry mostly just check the validity of visa and at best ask to re-produce the OG documents. Visa issuers are only suppose to ensure validity of the said documents. The fact now Oz authorities themselves are investigating how some other players supposedly got in with similar exemptions pretty much confirms this to be the case. Frankly most of the people I have seen getting harassed at entry are generally being profiled due to their religion or nationality. Barely anyone just waltzes in to an airport without a valid visa. Imagine if even 5 % of people with visa routinely got rejected entry at port of entry, the whole travel system to Oz or any such country would collapse.

Djokovic is an anti-vax idiot clearly but primarily Oz authorities are at fault here. They simply should not have given exemption to any player in the first place. They wanted a big tennis star to play and then immediately buckled under the public backlash. Oz PM trying to act the big man now is laughable when his authorities granted visa in the first place. I don't buy Djoko going to court with falsified documents either.

My son was nearly deported from the US when he first arrived as one paper form was missing due to Chinese customs removing it in transit. There was an electronic record but the requirement was to have a physical copy as well. It took 7 hrs in immigration fir them to decide to let him in on the condition he got a new physical form asap. Having a visa doesn't guarantee you entry.

Getting a visa is one thing but proving that you actually have fullfilled the conditions required is done on entry. If he had come by a commercial carrier I don't think he would have been allowed on the plane but the normal checks didn't occur because he was on his own plane. It sounds like he was relying on previous infection to get axwaiver but thatvisn't a thing. His people really should have checked such basic things.

 

[ExoduS]

They aren't blame free but #scottyfrommarketing does this all the time. Refuses to be involved, says that it is a matter for the states and then happily tries to throw them under the bus when it is politically expedient.

When this blew up the Feds asked Victoria if they supported the visa before cancelling it when Victoria said border control wasn't their responsibility (because it's a trap). It looks like they let 2 other players through with no scrutiny other than them having the AO waiver but backtracked when it became so unpopular. The 2 other players are now potentially going yto get their visas cancelled as well.

AO and Vic get some blame and were stupid to trust #scottyfrommarketing and should have got written approval that the medical waiver to enter the open would be enough to get entry to the country as we know he is totally untrustworthy.

In order of blame,

1) Djokovich





2) #scottyfrommarketing
3) AO
4) Victorian Government

The upshot is however perfect. An antivaxxer made to stay in less than 5* conditions for a few days and then either deported or allowed to remain to be hopefully booed in every game.

I would change ranking and put everyone with equal responsibility. I have traveled during COVID and could not return to US as my 2 year daughter didn't have PCR test. Totally my fault and stupidity for not reading requirements correctly. Got held in Switzerland for a night until my daughter got tested. The rule clearly said "2 year and older need a valid antigen/PCR test" and my dumbass comprehended that incorrectly. I also got complacent as my daugher didn't need COVID test to enter 5 other countries in Europe: Germany, Switzerland, Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia.

I ain't buying that this is not political mate. I don't think it is anti-serbian, I just think that backlash was underestimated and this is damage control. Some idiots think that Australian goverment planned this from the start but no goverement is capable of planning anything.

They could have sent him a warning that this was going to happen, but they did not. Many people knew he was coming and many have seen the documents. Someone issued that Visa so he can board the plane in Dubai or whatever.

With all that said, Novak should have stayed home. F it... Don' want a jab, stay home. Easy.

 

[Wibble]

I would change ranking and put everyone with equal responsibility. I have traveled during COVID and could not return to US as my 2 year daughter didn't have PCR test. Totally my fault and stupidity for not reading requirements correctly. Got held in Switzerland for a night until my daughter got tested. The rule clearly said "2 year and older need a valid antigen/PCR test" and my dumbass comprehended that incorrectly. I also got complacent as my daugher didn't need COVID test to enter 5 other countries in Europe: Germany, Switzerland, Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia.

I ain't buying that this is not political mate. I don't think it is anti-serbian, I just think that backlash was underestimated and this is damage control. Some idiots think that Australian goverment planned this from the start but no goverement is capable of planning anything.

They could have sent him a warning that this was going to happen, but they did not. Many people knew he was coming and many have seen the documents. Someone issued that Visa so he can board the plane in Dubai or whatever.

With all that said, Novak should have stayed home. F it... Don' want a jab, stay home. Easy.

It is political in the sense that Djokovic might possibly have got away with it (incorrectly legally) if the backlash hadn't caused #scottyfrommarketing to freak out that it made him look bad in an election year and Victoria refused to make it their problem. I think he lucked out when Djokovic turned up with no paperwork that gave him a valid vaccine waiver for visa purposes.

And this was in no way planned. #scottyfrommarketing doesn't do planning. Ask the French. He does however do incompetent, arrogant, "She'll be right mate" passing the buck very well indeed.

As for the visa you get one and have to show evidence that you are vaccinated (or entitled to a waiver) when you arrive, not before. He presumably assumed that the waiver to enter the tournament was the same thing. With a team to organise this stuff it would have taken minimal checking to see the actual entry requirements. That said the Open organisers seem to have not checked this either. Not strictly their responsibility but if I were the organiser I'm pretty sure I'd have checked requirements and made sure all players knew what paperwork was required.

The real shame is that such a talented athlete is such an idiot who harms where he could help. This sort of stuff will tarnish his legacy I suspect.

I also wish the entire region would get on board with vaccination far more as my son might try to work there when he finishes Uni.

 

[ExoduS]

It is political in the sense that Djokovic might possibly have got away with it (incorrectly legally) if the backlash hadn't caused #scottyfrommarketing to freak out that it made him look bad in an election year and Victoria refused to make it their problem. I think he lucked out when Djokovic turned up with no paperwork that gave him a valid vaccine waiver for visa purposes.

And this was in no way planned. #scottyfrommarketing doesn't do planning. Ask the French. He does however do incompetent, arrogant, "She'll be right mate" passing the buck very well indeed.

Why you guys call him that? Too lazy to google.

But yeah, wonder what would have happened if Novak kept his mouth shut and just showed up. I mean someone might have taken a pic of him going to Australia, however broadcasting it to entire World in Instachat didn't help.

 

[Cooksen]

Why you guys call him that? Too lazy to google.

Cause scotty worked (and got sacked for courrption) in marketing for tourism New Zealand and Australia, scotty has a long history of announcing things then failing to deliver and an overuse of crappy slogans

 

[Wibble]

Why you guys call him that? Too lazy to google.

But yeah, wonder what would have happened if Novak kept his mouth shut and just showed up. I mean someone might have taken a pic of him going to Australia, however broadcasting it to entire World in Instachat didn't help.

He is a former advertising executive and he thinks everything can be solved with marketing spin and has no idea what the difference between truth and lies is. He was sacked from Tourism Australia under somewhat mysterious circumstances and then moved in to politics. However, the main reason we call him that is that he utterly hates it.

 

[InfiniteBoredom]

Why you guys call him that? Too lazy to google.

But yeah, wonder what would have happened if Novak kept his mouth shut and just showed up. I mean someone might have taken a pic of him going to Australia, however broadcasting it to entire World in Instachat didn't help.

https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2020/01/where-the-legend-of-scotty-from-marketing-began/amp/

 

[RooneyLegend]

This is ridiculous, ask him to test everyday if he has to, but what does him not being vaccinated warrant this sort of nonsense. IIRC he's already had covid so has natural immunity.