A judge who will determine Novak Djokovic’s chance to play in the Australian Open has questioned what more the world No.1 could have done to enter Australia.
The 34-year-old Serbian entered Australia on Wednesday after publicising he had a medical reason not to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
But he has been in immigration detention after having his visa cancelled early the following morning.
A Federal Court hearing before Judge Anthony Kelly got underway on Monday morning.
Technical issues forced the hearing to begin despite a live stream link provided by the court crashing because of the overwhelming number of people trying to view proceedings.
Nick Wood SC says Djokovic declared before boarding his flight to Australia from Dubai that he had a medical contraindication and was able to provide evidence of that.
That evidence was a medical exemption provided to him by Tennis Australia, he said.
Judge Kelly asked: “What more could this man have done?”
“Here, a professor and an eminently qualified physician have produced and provided to the applicant a medical exemption,” he said.
Federal Circuit Court Judge Anthony Kelly has ordered ABF officials to transport Novak Djokovic to a location of his lawyers' choosing for the duration of the hearing on Monday and any future hearings.
According to an order published on Monday, Djokovic is to be returned to detention when the hearing concludes.
