Piers Morgan, 56, has weighed in on the matter after it was claimed Novak Djokovic was told to leave the country since he lacked sufficient evidence for a Covid vaccine exemption. While the Serbian has not publicly confirmed his vaccination status, his medical exemption was believed to have been enough to grant him access to Australia.
That was until Novak reached border control and learned that his team had filed the wrong paperwork, and though he’d requested a sub-class of visa, the entry permit did not apply to those who were arriving with a medical reason from a Covid-19 vaccine.
The 34-year-old’s placement in the Australia Open, which kicks off on January 17, is now in turmoil as he’s set to depart Australia, with no update as to whether Novak plans to get vaccinated in time for his tournament or not.
Piers has since taken to his Twitter account to sound off his opinion, telling his 7.9 million followers that Novak should have to follow the same rules as everyone else.
“The #Djokovic saga is not about whether you believe in covid vaccines, but whether you believe famous sports stars should play by the same rules as everyone else,” the journalist tweeted.
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“He has the right not to be jabbed, and Australia has the right to chuck him out for making a dodgy visa application.”
Despite his views on the situation, Piers’ fans had mixed reactions to Novak’s border control ordeal, with one person stressing that the athlete was in Australia for work, not for leisure.
@Adsterb didn’t seem to agree with the former Good Morning Britain presenter’s comment, having taken to the comment section, saying: “Refusing someone’s right to work because they aren’t vaccinated is questionable.
“Regardless of one’s status.”
Following the news that Novak had been barred from entering Australia, fellow tennis star Rafael Nadal opened up about his thoughts on the world No.1.
After his win against Ricardas Berankis at the Melbourne Summer Set tournament, the Spaniard said: “It seems a rough situation.
“But at the end of the day, the only thing that I can say is we have been going through very challenging times, and a lot of families have been suffering a lot during the last two years with the pandemic.”
Asked if he felt any commiseration for his colleague, Rafael replied: “Of course, I don’t like the situation that is happening.
“In some way, I feel sorry for, him but at the same time, he knew the conditions since a lot of months ago, so he has made his own decision.”
