Australia Court Hears Novak Djokovic’s Appeal

SYDNEY, Australia — Novak Djokovic, the Serbian tennis star, won at least a temporary victory on Monday in his bid to remain in Australia, as a judge ordered the government to release him from detention and restore a visa it had canceled because Djokovic has not been vaccinated for Covid-19.

The ruling, approving an agreement between the two parties, came five days after Djokovic was detained at an airport upon arrival on a flight from Dubai. It does not guarantee that he will be able to compete at the Australian Open, which he has won a record nine times. In court on Monday, the government warned that it may cancel his visa a second time even after the court’s decision.

Djokovic arrived late Wednesday with a visa and a vaccination exemption to play in the tournament, which begins Jan. 17, but border officials canceled the visa with the support of Prime Minister Scott Morrison. The authorities said that Djokovic did not qualify for an exemption from the requirement that everyone entering the country be fully vaccinated.

The drawn-out conflict over the world’s top men’s tennis player, who arrived seeking to win a record-breaking 21st Grand Slam title, landed at the start of an election year in Australia and kicked off another round of international debate over vaccine politics.

With the Omicron variant pushing Covid case numbers to new heights both in Australia and the rest of the world, Djokovic’s detention pits those who argue that vaccination is more important than ever for preventing serious illness against those who insist that no one should be forced into inoculation.

On multiple occasions, Djokovic has stated his opposition to vaccine mandates, saying that vaccination is a private and personal decision. He had not, however, revealed until last week whether he had been vaccinated.

In a court filing on Saturday, Djokovic’s lawyers said that the tennis star tested positive for the coronavirus in mid-December, and that the Australian government had erred in canceling his visa over the vaccine requirement.

In the hearing on Monday, Anthony Kelly, the federal court judge overseeing Djokovic’s appeal, noted that his visa application had included a medical exemption from a physician, supported by an independent panel convened by the Victoria state government.

“The point I’m somewhat agitated about is, what more could this man have done?” Judge Kelly said.

But the federal government’s lawyers, in their filing, said that past Covid-19 infections were not a valid reason to defer immunization against the virus.

Under vaccine guidelines issued in December by the country’s chief medical body, people are expected to be vaccinated against Covid-19 after recovering from “acute major medical illness,” and, the government argued, “the evidence is that the applicant has recovered.”

It is not clear if or when Djokovic was ill. On Dec. 16, the day he said he tested positive, he appeared at a live-streamed public event. The following day, he appeared at an awards ceremony for junior players, where photographs showed that he was not wearing a mask.

What is clear, even to many Australians who say that the rules should be applied to everyone, including sports superstars, is that they are embarrassed by the whole affair. Australia’s entry process for the tournament, and international travel generally during the pandemic, has been marred by confusion, dysfunction and political point-scoring that all add up to an image of incompetence.

Djokovic inadvertently joined the fray on Tuesday, when he announced on Twitter that he had received a medical exemption from the requirement that all people entering Australia be vaccinated or quarantine for 14 days upon arrival.

In a statement later that day, Craig Tiley, the chief executive of Tennis Australia, explained that players seeking an exemption had to pass muster with two panels of medical experts. The process included the redaction of personal information to ensure privacy.

Communications between national health officials and Tennis Australia, and between Tennis Australia and players, have revealed contradictory messages about whether unvaccinated people infected with the coronavirus during the past six months would receive an automatic medical exemption.

Federal officials wrote to Tiley in November to indicate that testing positive for the virus during the past six months would not be sufficient to gain automatic entry into the country without vaccination. But letters leaked to Australian news outlets showed that an adviser to Australia’s federal chief health officer had also told Tennis Australia that the state of Victoria, where the tournament is being held, was responsible for assessing exemptions.

On Dec. 2, Brett Sutton, the chief health officer in Victoria, wrote to Tennis Australia: “Anyone with a history of recent Covid-19 infection (defined as within 6 months) and who can provide appropriate…